A MAN has been banned from working with animals for five years but was spared jail after using a digger to drag a newborn calf from its mother.

Dino Cheleman, of Church Farm in Ardeley, near Stevenage, recieved a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months after causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal – a red poll heifer breed of cow – which was giving birth to a calf at the farm in March 2012.

The 48-year-old used a JCB vehicle to drag the calf from its mother at the farm and will have to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work, Stevenage Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

Cheleman, who was found guilty in a four-day trial last month, was ordered to pay £200 in costs and a victim surcharge of £80.