A farmer, disqualified from keeping animals indefinitely after hundreds of animals were removed from his farm, has admitted breaching the ban by keeping lovebirds, tortoises and dogs at two Pembrokeshire addresses.

Sean Burns, of Bramble Hall Farm, Ferry Lane, Pembroke Dock was due to stand trial yesterday, Wednesday, January 18, on three counts of keeping tortoises, love birds and dogs at Bramble Hall Farm and another address between January 26, 2022, and July 11, 2022, contrary to the animal welfare act.

On the morning of his trial, 52-year-old Burns changed his plea to guilty to each of the three charges, on the basis that he was the keeper and not the owner of the animals.

In 2019 more than 200 animals were removed from Bramble Hall farm after an operation involving police, Pembrokeshire County Council, Dogs Trust and the RSPCA.

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Burns was given a 20-week prison term on February 13, 2020, as well as being handed down an indefinite ban from keeping animals, including having any involvement or influence over the care or welfare of animals.

The sentence followed a trial in which Burns was found guilty of illegal dog breeding. He had previously admitted 13 animal welfare charges.

The following September he received a suspended prison sentence from Swansea Crown Court, alongside two other men, for his part in the production of smokies at the farm.

Yesterday Burns admitted three charges of breaching a disqualification after conviction by keeping tortoises, love birds and dogs at Bramble Hall Farm and another address between January 26, 2022, and July 11, 2022, contrary to the animal welfare act.

District Judge, Mark Layton, committed the case to Crown Court for sentencing next month, as Burns was still the subject of the September 2020 suspended sentence from that court at the time of the offences.

Mr Layton adjourned an administrative hearing to Llanelli Magistrates Court, also for February.