Eric the bantam has been cock of the roost for five years.

But after fathering more than 100 offspring, his long and happy career is being cut short.

Soon he will be plucked from his home and sent to do bird in an animal sanctuary.

A court has ruled Eric must fly the coop, after neighbours complained about his early-morning crowing.

Adur District Council produced tape recordings of Eric's cries they claimed were taken as early as 4.48am.

His owner, Jacquelyn Penfold, of Tower Road, Lancing, was found guilty of breaching a noise abatement notice at Worthing Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Mrs Penfold has bred bantams for 14 years, selling the chicks at agricultural shows at Ardingly and Heathfield. Without Eric she will keep her hens, but cannot breed any more birds.

She said: "I think the decision was unfair, because I am not the only one with cockerels down Tower Road. It is going to mean we cannot breed and show."

Her children, Logan, seven, and Fergus, 13, take pride in helping the bantam eggs to incubate and hatch.

Mrs Penfold told The Argus after the hearing: "I'm really sad, the children love hatching them out and watching them grow up."

The court heard Mrs Penfold had tried twice to appeal against a notice issued by the council in February last year, but the letters she sent were lost both times.

Since 1995 the council has received five separate complaints about the birds, but was able to solve the problem without enforcement action.

Mrs Penfold had denied breaching the noise abatement notice.

At night, Eric is kept in a small brick coop at the bottom of the family's 60-metre-long garden.

A wooden lid is kept closed to block out the light, and set too low for him to stretch his neck and crow.

Two witnesses living in Tower Road, Caroline Potter and Geoffrey Bowyer, told the court they were not disturbed by any noise from Mrs Penfold's address.

Presiding magistrate David Shaw ordered Mrs Penfold to return to court for sentencing on February 26.

She must remove Eric from her garden by next Monday (Feb 12).

She plans to find an animal sanctuary for the bird, because it may prove difficult to sell him at such short notice.

Council prosecutor Joanne Stone applied for costs of £1,004.

She said: "That is a very conservative estimate of the costs that have been incurred."

Mrs Penfold's solicitor Richard Finlay said: "This has been a very expensive case for the public purse."

Bruce Reynolds, the council's senior environmental health officer, said after the hearing: "Adur District Council has a legal duty to investigate all complaints about noise and, where these complaints are proven to be justified, take action to abate the nuisance.

"In this case, advice was given to the owner of ways to prevent the problems of early morning crowing, some of which was occurring as early as four in the morning.

"Unfortunately the noise nuisance continued and it was necessary to serve a notice prohibiting the keeping of cockerels at that address.

"We certainly advise that cockerels should not be kept in an urban domestic property since the potential for noise nuisance is very high. There are no laws preventing keeping of such livestock responsibly, but if they are kept in such a way as to unreasonably interfere with other people's enjoyment of their own property then the council will take action."

  • To see a video of Eric strutting his stuff, click here
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