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​Farmer banned from keeping animals

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A FARMER was told that he was ‘very lucky not to be going to prison’ for a series of animal welfare offences.

Deep in slurry: Aled Morgan failed to provide basic needs for his animals.

Deep in slurry: Aled Morgan failed to provide basic needs for his animals.

Aled Morgan, aged 28, previously of Brynhyfryd, Penffordd, Clynderwen, but now residing at Llan Isaf, Llangynog, Carmarthen, was disqualified from keeping or owning livestock for seven years at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (Feb 17).

This was suspended for a month to allow for him to sell any remaining animals that are still in his possession.

On February 10, Morgan pleaded guilty to 21 offences relating to the care of his animals in court on January 19 and the case was adjourned to allow for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Nine of the offences relate to Morgan failing to comply with animal by-products and another nine relate to him failing to ensure the welfare of his animals.

The others related to him failing to notify the National Assembly of deaths of animals, one of failing to provide an animal for TB testing and one of failing to record the arrival of animals to the farm.

The chairman of the bench said that she and her colleagues were so appalled by the photographs provided and that they had never seen such appalling conditions.

The case followed complaints about animal welfare of cattle and pigs at his Penffordd livestock farm.

Prosecuting, Rhian Young told Magistrates: “Ten visits were made to the farm following a number of anonymous complaints. There were reports of carcasses and improvement notices have also been issued. On April 8, Pembrokeshire County Council Animal Health and Welfare inspectors and vets from the Animal Plant and Health Agency visited the farm. In one shed they found an open bail of silage and bovines were deep in slurry. They were all in a thin condition. There was also a carcass of a new-born calf. In the second shed there was a cow that had died trying to calve. There was also a build-up of faeces and the bovines had access to contaminated water. In the next shed there were carcasses of two calves. In the fourth shed there was another build-up of faeces. They contacted Morgan and told him that this was unsatisfactory. Another complaint was made and three carcasses were found. The inspector noted that the conditions were worse than the previous visit. They tried to contact Morgan but they couldn’t get hold of him and officers did what they could to improve the conditions. They went back and found that a number of the animals had been moved from where the officers had put them. They also noticed that animal by-products had not been properly disposed of. In June, 2014, four young cattle and two pigs were taken into possession by the Council after an Animal Welfare Act section 18 was signed by a vet to prevent further unnecessary suffering. A check was done and it was found that he had not notified the authorities of the deaths of the animals or for the movement of pigs.”

She continued: “There was another anonymous complaint of dead animals and seven carcasses were found in the same place as before. Letters were sent to the defendant reminding him to remove the carcasses. One of the bovines was lying down and when the officer encouraged it to stand it could not do so as its legs were weak. The pig was dehydrated and had no food or water. A decision was made to euthanize the pig to prevent any further suffering. He has had a huge amount of guidance over the past 12 months but he has failed to meet their needs. In total, 14 cattle have died between December 2013 and August 2014.”

Probation officer Julie Norman told the court: “Problems arose following the death of his father. The farm has been in his family for generations. After his father died there were numerous debts that needed to be paid. He was struggling to pay and took up another job on another farm to pay costs. He left his sister in charge of his farm. The needs of the animals were quite basic and whilst his sister told him everything was ok he accepts that it wasn’t. He was so busy on the other farm and he no longer works at this farm. He has moved away and is working on a large dairy farm in Carmarthenshire.”

Defending, Matt Greenish said: “He did what he could to get rid of the debt following the death of his father and he has failed to take adequate steps to look after the animals on his farm. He was working at another farm but he should have taken more responsibility for his own farm. He has little contact with his family now and he is sorry for these offences. Although it has gone on for some time, this can be deemed as an isolated incident. If you do disqualify him that will place difficulties on him but he accepts that he will have to be punished.”

Mr Greenish also asked the Magistrates to consider not banning Morgan but they did not agree with that suggestion.

On sentencing, the chairman of the bench said: “We are so appalled at the photographs and you are very lucky not to be going to prison. We have never seen such appalling conditions.”

As well as the disqualification, Morgan was given a community order with the requirement of 300 hours of unpaid work.

Morgan was also fined £2446.76 to cover legal and investigation costs and he was also ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge.

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The life of a crime scene cleaner: Ben Giles shares his harrowing experiences

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SOME of the images that Ben Giles has confronted over the past three decades have been stomach-churning.

He’s seen the brutality of murders, corpses left to rot for weeks on end, young children who have been mauled to death by dogs, victims of fatal car crashes, and an ever-increasing number of tragic suicides.

As he tackled each new scene as founder and director of Ultima Cleaning, Ben’s sole focus was on ensuring that the job was executed professionally. But it was only when he began working on his recently published book The Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner, that the true extent of those harrowing experiences began to hit home.

“Arriving at a crime scene, my main drive was to get the job done properly, but this meant not really thinking about what had happened,” Ben told The Pembrokeshire Herald.

“It was only when I began working on the book and started going over some of the scenes I’d confronted that I began to realise what some of those families had gone through.

“Yes, some of the things I’ve seen have been horrific.”

One image that will never leave Ben is that of a middle-aged woman who had been bludgeoned to death by her husband at their home in Birmingham.

“It made me realise that people sometimes die in ways that we don’t think possible,” he said. “I’d recently got married, and I just couldn’t accept how anything like this could happen between a husband and his wife.”

The woman had survived for three days on the kitchen floor but sadly died as she was being taken to hospital by ambulance. The entire room in which she’d been murdered was covered by a fine mist of blood, and bloody handprints and fingerprints were all over the kitchen units. The drawers had blood inside them and their runners, while the washing machine had so much blood on it that it had seeped into the door and into the seal.

“In a few hours, we’d completely cleaned the room and were travelling back home to our own wives and families. But the emotion that we were all feeling as a team will never leave me.”

Dealing with the unimaginable

On another occasion, Ben and his team were asked to attend a property in Penrhiwllan, near Newcastle Emlyn, where a man had lain dead for eight weeks.

“The smell was horrendous,” recalls Ben. “His face and legs had been eaten by his dog, and the man had begun decomposing through the carpet. His body fat had gone into the concrete. There were swarms of bluebottles everywhere.

“This was one of the very first biohazard cleaning jobs I’d ever done, so obviously the expectations were considerable. And in those days, we didn’t have Google to refer to, so it was a question of using our own knowledge and initiative to ensure the job was done well.”

Building a business from scratch

In many ways, this strong sense of self-belief has been the undercurrent of Ben’s life journey.

He left school at the age of 16 with a handful of GCSEs and no inclination to pursue further education.

“I knew I wanted to carry on living here in west Wales but I also knew that the qualifications I had weren’t going to get me the job or the salary I wanted,” explains Ben.

And so he set up his own window cleaning business.

“I managed to make a success of it,” he explains. “By the time I was 17, I was earning more money than my schoolteachers, and when I was 18, I was able to buy my first house and car.”

That same year, Ben decided to diversify into different methods of cleaning, focusing on offices and schools. By the time he was 23, he had a workforce of 20 people.

His first job came courtesy of a client who worked with the Aberystwyth branch of Age Concern.

“She told me that a warden-assisted flat hadn’t been cleaned for ten years. The bath was full to the brim with human faeces, as was the toilet, and the place was crawling with flies. Both the flats on either side were empty because of the smell.

“We cleaned the property that same day for a fee of £2,000, and I knew that by deodorising it and doing everything possible to clean it, we’d created an opportunity for the other flats to be let out too.”

A business built on expertise

Under Ben’s directorship, Ultima has been split into three categories:

  • Ultima Cleaning, specialising in crime scene and biohazard cleaning;
  • Ultima Academy, which offers specialist biohazard training to organisations such as police and prison officers, British Aerospace, and immigration officers;
  • Ultima’s Environmental Network, facilitated by some 400 operatives throughout the UK.

The company has also worked closely with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop pioneering cleaning materials for severe cleanup operations, while a mental health specialist is always on hand to support any staff members affected by their work.

Ultima remains the sole British company that can offer a two-hour call-out, operating from its centre in Newport, Gwent.

Selling Ultima Cleaning

In 2022, Ben made the difficult decision to sell Ultima Cleaning.

“When COVID hit, I was going to bed at 3am and waking up at 6, when there’d be 20 jobs already in, waiting to be sanitised. We were absolutely everywhere, and it nearly exhausted me and the team.

“So I suppose it was this that made me take stock of where I am today.

“Over the years, it’s become obvious that people love hearing about the work we do as loads of people love crime, and the most popular question I get asked has to be ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve ever had to clean up?’

“But people are also interested in my own personal journey.

“And this is why I decided to write the book. OK, so I’m a much better cleaner than I am a writer, but I’ve always kept a diary of my jobs, and this has helped me to select between 30 and 40 of the most interesting ones for the book.

“At the end of the day, I’m a normal guy from Cardigan who’s worked hard, who’s had a firm belief in everything I’ve done, and who’s succeeded.

“But the business has made me appreciate my life, my family, the wonderful people around me, and my home near Cardigan.

“Ultima has taught me a great deal about life, but perhaps the greatest thing is to forget the word ‘no’. If I’d said no to so many of those jobs over the years, there’s no way I’d be where I am today.”

The Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner is available from Amazon on Kindle (£7.99) and paperback (£15.99).

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Crime

Mother accused of murdering six-year-old son set to appear in court

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A MOTHER accused of murdering her son and attempting to kill her father is set to appear in court next month.

Karolina Zurawska, 41, of Cwm Du Close, Gendros, Swansea, is charged with the murder of her six-year-old son, Alexander Zurawski, whose body was discovered at a property in Swansea in August last year. She is also accused of attempting to murder her father, 67-year-old Krzysztof Siwi, on the same occasion.

Zurawska was due to appear at Swansea Crown Court on Monday but was not produced from custody. A plea hearing has now been scheduled for March 3. She remains in custody.

Following Alexander’s death, his family described him as a “very kind child”. They said: “Alexander was always well-behaved and never naughty. He was very clever and very mature for his age. He had great understanding of facts. Alexander was always helpful, always eager to assist with cooking and cleaning.

“Alexander spoke both English and Polish and would often correct his parents with their English if they got words wrong. He was amazing.”

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Entertainment

The Fureys at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven

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ARE you fans of the legends of Irish music and song? The FUREYS, renowned for their hit songs ‘I Will Love You’, ‘When You Were Sweet 16’, ‘The Green Fields of France’, ‘The Old Man’, ‘Red Rose Café’, ‘From Clare to Here’, ‘Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway’, ‘Leaving Nancy’, ‘Steal Away’ and many others, will hit the Torch Theatre stage this March.

The oldest of the brothers, Eddie Furey left home in 1966 and travelled to Scotland at the time of the great folk revival, where with his brother Finbar, he met and shared accommodation with then unknown folk singers Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty, Tam Harvey and Alex Campbell.

In 1972, Gerry Rafferty wrote ‘Her father didn’t like me anyway’ for Eddie. BBC Radio 1 presenter, the late John Peel, made it his single of the year.

They are particularly proud of their UK chart success with songs such as ‘I Will Love You’ and ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen,’ which in turn helped bring Irish folk and traditional music to a completely new audience. The band made their Top of the Pops debut in 1981.

Eddie Furey recalls how “many musicians have told us we influenced them after hearing a record from their parents or grandparents’ collection”. Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics has credited Eddie with teaching him his first chords on the guitar while still a teenager. Eddie would return the compliment by joining Dave on stage in Paris for a jam during the latter’s wedding to Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey.

Their emotive songs stir many emotions, tears and laughter, sadness and joy.

Tickets for The Fureys on Thursday 27 March at 7.30pm at the Torch Theatre are priced at £26.00. Visit the website for further details www.torchtheatre.co.uk or phone the Box Office on (01646) 695267.

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