A Manor Park man convicted of attending a cockfight has been handed a 200-hour community order and banned from keeping birds for life.

Newham Recorder: Mohammed Asab, 51, shows off his fighting cockerels in a video seized from his mobile by the RSPCA. Photo: RSCPAMohammed Asab, 51, shows off his fighting cockerels in a video seized from his mobile by the RSPCA. Photo: RSCPA (Image: Archant)

Akhtar Hussain, 47, of Greenhill Grove, must also pay £1,500 in legal fees and care costs for cockerels forfeited to the RSCPA by ringleader Mohammed Asab from Seven Kings.

Hussain, along with three other culprits, are banned from bird keeping for life and must pay a £85 victim surcharge.

He was found guilty of being present at an animal fight involving cockerels along with Mohamed Arif, 43, from Ilford; Mehtab Ahmed, 41, from Chingford; and Altaf Hussain, 54, from Coventry, on November 15.

Asab, 51, was found guilty of causing an animal fight to take place, keeping and training an animal for use in connection with an animal fight, and keeping premises for use for an animal fight.

Newham Recorder: Cockfighting was outlawed almost 200 years ago. Picture credit: RSPCACockfighting was outlawed almost 200 years ago. Picture credit: RSPCA (Image: Archant)

He was granted a 22-week suspended sentence and must pay £10,000 for the long-term care of his former cockerels and £2,000 in legal costs.

He must also pay a £150 victim surcharge, complete 200 hours community service in 12 months, and forfeit his cockfighting paraphernalia.

Handing Asab the verdict, District Judge Gary Lucie said: “You were, in my view, the ring leader of this cockfight.

“The offence is aggravated by the fact that this was a deliberate, gratuitous act to cause suffering.

Commenting on Asab’s attempt to heal the wounds of one of his injured hens, he added: “There was prolonged suffering as your attempt to stitch up the bird was wholly inadequate.”

During the case it was revealed that one of the cockerels has now sadly passed on.

Judge Lucie decided to suspend the sentence due to Asab’s personal circumstances as he is a carer for his poorly brother and granddaughter, and that he has no previous convictions.

Mohamed Arif, who confessed to owning three “fancy Polish chickens,” was also ordered to hand over them over to the RSPCA.

“I do not recognise those types of hens as a fighting breed. But all hens are capable of fighting,” said RSCPA Inspector Cliff Harrison, reviewing images of the birds on Arif’s phone.

He added: “Cockfighting is an abhorrent and cruel practise which was outlawed almost 200 years ago.

“During fights, cocks are placed into a pit where they face off, cheered on by a jeering crowd.”

A 17-year-old was granted conditional discharge and a fine of £180.