Shropshire dog trainer sentenced over 35 lamb deaths
BBCA dog owner whose two Rottweilers killed and injured dozens of lambs has been given a 12-month community order.
Charles Ross-Robertson's dogs killed 35 lambs at a farm in Risbury, near Leominster, in September. Another 20 had to be put down.
The 65-year-old, from Stanton Lacy, Ludlow, previously admitted allowing his animals to be dangerously out of control.
Hereford magistrates ordered the dogs be destroyed.
Ross-Robertson had told the court he was previously the owner of a canine centre and had been training dogs for 45 years.
Farmer Tom Hadley told the BBC four years of breeding was destroyed with the death of the lambs, at a cost of £25,000.
He said it was "soul-destroying" to see his sheep lying dead and injured.
"[Ross-Robertson] thinks his dogs have just killed some sheep, but there's more of a bigger picture than that. It's four years worth of breeding, it's £25,000 financial costs and it's my livelihood," he added.
Sentencing Ross-Robertson, magistrate Lavinia Sole, said: "If the dogs get out again then they're likely to do the same. Farmers must be protected from these dogs."
