18 Dec, 2010 @ 09:30
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EXCLUSIVE By Amie Keeley

IT is certainly something of a dramatic turnaround.

Happy and healthy with a new spring in their step, it is hard to imagine that just 10 months ago these thoroughbred horses were on the verge of death.

Skeletal and seriously malnourished, they had been at the mercy of a ‘deluded’ British owner, who, as reported in the Olive Press, had played God with them for over two years.

Dubbed the ‘horse killer’, Suzanne Jenkins, 35, had already come under investigation after 16 of her horses had died in suspicious circircumstances on her estate in Cadiz.

Already banned from keeping horses in the UK, when she fled to a new hideout in Huelva a year ago, the remaining 33 purebred Trakehners were in a perilous state.

But, thanks to an incredible deal, the owner of the land where she moved them to, has now stepped in and taken over their wellbeing.

In a dramatic volteface Jenkins has now fled Spain and is currently being sought by a number of people she owes money to.

“It has been a total nightmare and cost us a lot of money,” said new owner Juan Berges Torres, a champion horse breeder, from Sevilla.

“But thankfully now we have come to a happy conclusion to that terrible time and they are facing a happy Christmas at last.”

Looking to find homes for the remaining horses, he has spent the last 10 months working with vets and nutritionists to nurse the horses back to health.

Once emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from countless injuries, the 33 horses are now almost unrecognisable, having made a full recovery.

“I knew the horses were in a very bad shape when Jenkins was here and I could see they were just getting worse and worse,” said landowner Berges, who started breeding horses from his estate Yeguada Sierra Norte, in Fuenteheridos, near Aracena, in 2004.

“In February after she fled, it was clear that all of them were in desperate need of help.”

In a tense stand off with Jenkins, it was agreed that she would leave him the horses in return for the thousands of euros she owed him for land rental and upkeep.

“I didn’t do it for the money, just for the horses,” Berges told the Olive Press.

Jenkins is now believed to be back in the UK, where she was convicted of the cruelty and mistreatment of horses, in Gloucestershire.

Her nightmare had deepened after she fled to Spain with her remaining horses in 2008, only to see 16 of them die at her parents’ finca near Medina Sidonia.

When the Spanish authorities stepped in to investigate, she found her controversial feeding practices come under close scrutiny.

While she denied she was responsible, blaming it on a lack of clean water and thorns in the hay, local animal charities were sceptical.

When the Olive Press confronted her in 2008 she made a number of excuses and said: “You have printed a load of lies about me.”

There is no doubt her problems are anything but over. One of her former employees revealed: “We’ve tried to locate her countless times through lawyers but still have no idea where she is.

“She owes a lot of people money,” he added.

It also comes after her ex-boyfriend, Danny Robinson, got in touch with the Olive Press, pleading for an address for her. “I stupidly funded the movement of ‘her’ horses to Spain and have not seen my money returned (around £40k) and as a result have had to file for bankruptcy.”

Click here to read more News from The Olive Press.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

5 Comments

  1. As the investigating RSPCA Inspector in this case all I can say is that it was a shame that the local authorities didn’t take action against her. They were obviously taken in by her and it is lucky for the horses that the deal was struck with the landowner.

    If anyone knows where she has moved to in the UK then they need to notify the RSPCA so that they can monitor her as this sort of person rarely gives up. I had to prosecute one lady 3 times over 4 years and she still kept horses despite being banned.

    If anyone wants me to pass on her possible location you can e-mail me in confidence via http://www.gaws.co.uk

    Great work everyone at The Olive Press for keeping with the story.

    Glyn

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