News
Farmer loses appeal over suffering to ponies punishment
A ST DAVIDS farmer has today (Nov 10) lost an appeal against his sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to five ponies.
Ian Morgan Griffiths, aged 54, had pleaded guilty at Haverfordwest magistrates’ court and had been made the subject of an 18 week jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work for the community.
Griffiths, who runs two farms at Berea as well as providing bunks style accommodation for 400 people plus camping and caravan sites, was also banned from keeping horses for five years.
During an appeal hearing at Swansea Crown Court barrister Craig Jones said Griffiths had staged a festival on his land and someone complained about the state of three Shetland ponies and two Welsh Mountain ponies.
The RSPCA were alerted and found that their hooves were seriously overgrown to the extent they could not walk properly if at all.
Mr Jones said the necessary treatment would have cost as little as £15 per pony and there were plenty of people available to carry out the work.
David Williams, representing Griffiths, argued the sentence was unjustly high.
One consequence, he said, was that Dyfed Powys police had withdrawn Griffiths’ shotgun licence because the sentence was over three months long. As a result he could no longer stage clay pigeon shooting events.
He said Griffiths’ wife had died in 2010 and he had found himself looking after three children as well as two farms and extensive accommodation.
Mr Williams said Griffiths was of the ninth generation to farm the land and this had been the first prosecution in the family’s history.
“He’s deeply upset at what has happened. As soon as the entent of the problem was made clear to him he handed the ponies over the RSPCA,” added Mr Williams.
He said Griffiths would be appealing against the withdrawal of his gun licence.
Judge Geraint Walters, sitting with two magistrates, dismissed the appeal.
He said the mitigation available to Griffiths had been reflected in the magistrates’ decision to suspend the prison sentence.
Griffiths, he added, had had the resources to pay for the animals to be looked after properly and it was no excuse that he had been too busy.
Judge Walters said the magistrates had made a mathematical error in that Griffiths had been entitled to a one third discount in return for his early guilty plea. As 26 weeks was the maximum sentence available 18 weeks represented more than two thirds.
Consequently, the 18 weeks suspended sentence was reduced to 16 weeks.
EMERGENCY services were called after a car crashed into a house on Nun Street in St Davids on Thursday (Apr 24).
Dyfed-Powys Police and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene at around 4:35pm following reports of a single-vehicle collision.
On arrival, they found that a car had collided with a residential property. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
The road remained open while the vehicle was recovered.
A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said: “Dyfed-Powys Police attended a report of a single-vehicle road traffic collision where a car collided with a property on Nun Street, St Davids, at around 4:35pm yesterday. No injuries were reported, and the road remained open while the vehicle was recovered.”
POLICE are appealing for information to help locate a 54-year-old man who has been reported missing from the Milford Haven area.
Neil is described as being around 6ft 2in tall with a shaved head. He has tattoos on his arms and one of his fingers, and sometimes wears glasses.
He was last seen on Friday afternoon (Apr 26) wearing a black Superdry hoodie, ripped jeans, and orange and black Nike Air trainers. Neil is believed to be on foot.
Anyone with information that could help is urged to contact Dyfed-Powys Police: 
| Online portal
| 101@dyfed-powys.police.uk
| Call 101, quoting reference 262 of April 26.
Wales joins UK’s largest firefighting aid convoy
MID and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) has taken part in the UK’s largest ever convoy delivering vital firefighting equipment to Ukraine, joining 17 other Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) from across the country.
The convoy, coordinated by FIRE AID and supported by the UK Government, left the UK in early April. It travelled through France, Germany and Poland, delivering over 30 fire service vehicles and more than 15,000 items of equipment to support Ukrainian firefighters on the front line of the ongoing war.
Since the Russian invasion in 2022, UK fire services have donated 119 vehicles and over 200,000 pieces of equipment to Ukraine. Each participating service ensured local needs were met before donating surplus kit.
Watch Manager Rob Kershaw represented MAWWFRS on the convoy. He said:
“It’s been a privilege to be part of this convoy and to represent both FIRE AID and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
We received invaluable support and assistance from fire and police services across every country we passed through. Their help in coordinating, escorting, and hosting the convoy was outstanding.”
Chief Fire Officer Roger Thomas KFSM added:
“MAWWFRS is proud to support our colleagues in Ukraine by donating and delivering essential equipment.
The events in Ukraine have deeply affected the fire and rescue community, and this convoy is a demonstration of our ongoing commitment to helping those still working under extreme conditions.”
The donated equipment will support firefighters in Ukraine who continue to operate in war zones to save lives and protect property—often at great personal risk. Since the conflict began, 100 Ukrainian firefighters have been killed and 431 injured. A total of 411 fire stations and 1,700 firefighting vehicles have been destroyed.
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