maggieslaw.co.uk

Maggie's Law is a campaigning for a change in the laws dealing with attacks on horses and ponies. After an attack in 2007, Davina Bowyer lost her beloved 19 yr old black and white mare in horrific circumstances.

The mare in question, Maggie, had been owned by Davina since the horse was 18 months old. On Friday 13th April 2007, Maggie, a 19-year-old piebald mare, suffered horrific injuries following an attack at Essington Hall Farm, Essington when a group of youths fueled by drinking in local woods went into Maggies field and startled her, they proceeded to chase her, they repeatedly hurled a butcher’s meat cleaver at her and she was put down the following day due to her injuries when her owner found her lying in a pool of blood. Maggie suffered a five-inch-deep cut to her neck, a three-and-a-half-inch cut on her shoulder and her right leg was broken. The mare’s rear-leg tendon was severed by a blow which cut to the bone. The two youths who did this were given extremely lenient sentences.

What we would like to see is those who commit attacks like these punished more severely, with sentences being tougher, and more in line with the sentences for those convicted of assault, in the minor cases, and for the major cases, when horses and ponies are put down because of the trauma they have suffered, the sentences should be in line with those for drinking and driving, or causing death by dangerous driving. THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE ANYONE CAN RECEIVE IF CONVICTED OF THESE CRIMES IS SIX MONTHS, we need to change this, as in Maggies case her attacker received the maximum sentence and was free in 6 weeks!