An 81-year-old man in a nursing home has been given another criminal-behaviour order for breaching a court injunction designed to keep his sheepdogs under control.
Former farmer Barrie Liddle, of Pateley Bridge, persistently drove an uninsured car with a Border collie inside, despite being subject to a court order in 2017 that prohibited him being in control of a dog without supervision by a responsible adult, York Crown Court heard.
Liddle – who was given the original order after his collies were running out of control and scaring neighbours’ sheep – was stopped at least three times by police between March and June 2019 when they found him alone with a collie.
“He has a history of allowing his dogs to run loose on to private land of farmers in the Pateley Bridge area, which then chased and worried sheep,” said prosecutor Martin Robertshaw.
A Border collie. Photo: Lukas Ruzicka on Unsplash
Liddle – who was taken into a nursing home due to “deteriorating ill-health” after the offences occurred – was brought in for police questioning on three occasions but remained largely tight-lipped other than to deny the offences.
He was facing 12 separate charges including a racially aggravated matter and an alleged incident with an air rifle, along with driving without insurance, skipping bail and a further breach of the criminal-behaviour order (CBO).
He admitted three of the breaches but denied all the other allegations, at which point there were concerns about his fitness to stand trial due to his mental health. The prosecution allowed the remaining counts to lie on file. Liddle had since been taken into a nursing home.
Liddle – formerly of Old Church Lane, Pateley Bridge – was excused attendance at the sentence hearing on Thursday due to ill health.
Previous convictions
The pensioner had nine previous convictions for 22 offences including 10 sheep-scaring incidents and one other offence of threatening to shoot five of his neighbour’s best tup lambs, which led to the sentence in 2017, when he was given a community order and mental-health treatment programme for nine breaches of the original CBO.
The original offences were committed between March and November 2014. Two of the sheep-worrying offences were committed at West End, near Thruscross Reservoir, where Liddle kept a flock of his own sheep.
The others all happened near his home in Pateley Bridge, where he kept seven Border collies, some of them champion herding dogs of whom he was said to be a skilled handler.
But he had lost those skills as well as control of his dogs, which strayed on to land and caused ewes and their lambs “a lot of distress” and in some cases injured them. His neighbours were caused “persistent anxiety”.
The resultant deprivation order banned Liddle from entering privately owned land in Nidderdale with a dog without the permission of the landowner, among other prohibitions. But he seemed “unwilling or unable to do anything to prevent his dogs straying”.
Other convictions included breaching a non-molestation order, criminal damage, driving while disqualified, threatening behaviour and an animal-welfare offence.
Following his latest offences, his dogs were confiscated and at least one was taken into police dog kennels at considerable cost.
Susannah Proctor, for Liddle, said her elderly client had experienced “mania or manic episodes” and was unlikely to be discharged from the nursing home.
Read more:
- Calls for ‘dangerous’ Starbeck junction to be improved
- Central Harrogate has lowest first covid vaccine take-up in district
He had delusions of grandiosity and extreme paranoia towards police whom he “genuinely” believed were persecuting him.
She argued that it was “wholly unnecessary” to subject him to another criminal-behaviour order, which he “can’t understand” due to his deteriorating mental health.
Judge Simon Hickey acknowledged that Liddle was in “extreme ill-health” but added that a new criminal-behaviour order would protect neighbours and guard against potential further breaches were he ever to recover.
He said although Liddle was “confined to a nursing home where he is unlikely to be released” and his mental health “clearly rings many alarm bells”, he was “(mentally) competent enough” when he “persistently” breached the order.
He added:
“Farmers must be able to raise their livestock… without them being distressed or being killed or maimed.”
Imposing a one-year community order with a new criminal-behaviour order, he said that in the unlikely event that Liddle regained his mental capacities, he would only be sentenced for any breach of the order if he understood the prohibitions.
The order prohibits Liddle from having custody or control of any dogs without third-party supervision and owning or keeping sheep or cattle. The five prohibitions in total will run for an indefinite period.
