Pig farmer under investigation for animal cruelty found dead at home

Police say death

Norfolk farmer Stephen Brown is not considered suspicious. RSPCA undertook research on video

A farmer who was being investigated on charges of cruelty to pigs was found dead in his home.

The body of Stephen Brown, 52, farm Harling, near Thetford, Norfolk, was discovered Tuesday. Police said his death is not considered suspicious.

The RSPCA has launched an investigation this week after equal rights animals animal group produced video pig kicks, slaps and beatings with iron bars.

The group sent an undercover investigator to work on the farm for two months last summer and brought together more than 200 hours of footage and photographs 300.

In an interview with BBC Look East Monday, Brown said: "It looks bad, but what I feel is a part of it was staged."

Some of the pictures showed a worker repeatedly hit a pig in the face with a plastic rod.

• The same worker is using an iron bar to beat a pig to death, a flurry of punches repeatedly until the animal is left in the concrete contractions.

An RSPCA spokesman said. "The images are some of the most impressive we have received and we take that very seriously,"

equality animal said the investigation "marks the beginning of an intense campaign to reveal the true face of farming in Britain."
The farm had been approved by the quality assurance regime Red Tractor food, which aims to ensure that responsible farming methods. The group had suspended the program pending an inspection firm.

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