A WOMAN was banned from keeping horses for three years following a prosecution by the RSPCA.

Sarah Mitcham, 39, of Wisbech Road, Outwell, sobbed throughout the hearing at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court this week.

She pleaded guilty to two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to five ponies by failing to provide adequate nutrition for them and failing to provide adequate parasitic control for them.

The offences happened between March 16 and April 6 in March.

The court heard all five ponies were emaciated and that they were suffering from lice and worms. Mitcham struggled to care for the animals after insurers refused to pay out for a flood at her family home in Wisbech, resulting in debts of more than �100,000.

Mitcham was given a one-year community order, 180 hours of unpaid work and banned from keeping equines for three years.

Speaking after the case RSPCA inspector Jon Knight said: “During this financial climate we are finding more and more people unable to care for their animals appropriately.

“Pet owners seriously need to consider their financial situation before taking any new animals on, especially large animals such as horses which take an awful lot of looking after and can prove costly if things go wrong.”