A COUPLE who flouted emergency foot-and-mouth regulations by moving livestock 100 yards down a country lane, have won a battle against sentence.

Southampton GP Muniswamiah Subramanyam, 62, and his wife, Sylvia, 58, pictured right, 58, had each been fined £3,000 with £250 costs by New Forest magistrates.

But they appealed at Southampton Crown Court where Judge David Griffiths - sitting with two magistrates - slashed the fine to £250 each. They were also told their costs would be reduced to £125 each.

In the first case of its kind in Hampshire, the couple were prosecuted after being seen taking 11 ewes and a ram from a four-acre field adjacent to Hunts Farm in Rudd Lane, Timsbury, to their premises about 70 metres away.

Peter Savile, appearing for the Trading Standards Authority, said the offence happened about a fortnight after the regulations came into force in February. Dr Subramanyam drove a vehicle down the lane and then stood by the gate as his wife took charge of the movement.

James Buxton, defending, said Mrs Subramanyam ran a small sheep business and both her and her husband were unaware of the new guidelines.

The ram was seriously ill and required treatment. "The only way to treat the ram was to put it into the back of the trailer. The ewes got there first and the ram followed,'' said Mr Buxton.

Mr Buxton described the couple as pillars of the community and the regulations breach was at the bottom end of the scale. "The fines were grossly excessive.''

Judge Griffiths said the animals had only been moved 70 metres and there was no risk to adjacent livestock.