Pig farmer slammed by RSPCA for horrific cruelty to his animals found dead in suspected suicide

-Married father-of-two Stephen Brown, 52, is believed to have shot himself
-Investigation launched this week after covert video shows pigs being kicked and slapped and one being beaten to death with an iron bar
-Farm suspended from the Red Tractor food quality assurance scheme, which aims to ensure responsible farming methods

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Shocking: An undercover investigation exposed horrific acts of cruelty to animals on Stephen Brown's farm in Thetford, Norfolk, which supplies meat to leading supermarkets

A farmer under investigation over allegations of horrific cruelty to his pigs has been found dead in a suspected suicide.
Married father-of-two Stephen Brown, 52, is believed to have shot himself in one of his fields at Harling Farm, East Harling, near Thetford, Norfolk.
The RSPCA launched an investigation this week after animal rights group Animal Equality released a video of pigs being kicked and slapped and one being beaten to death with an iron bar on the farm.

'Tipping point': Pig farmer Stephen Brown was under investigation after serious allegations of animal cruelty were made about his farm

The group claimed it had gathered 200 hours of undercover footage and 300 photographs after it sent an undercover investigator to work on the farm for two months, last summer.
The probe led to Mr Brown's farm being suspended from the Red Tractor food quality assurance scheme, which aims to ensure responsible farming methods.
It is believed that he had been due to take his wife Fiona and their two daughters on a half term ski trip, but cancelled it after the footage was released over the weekend.

Grim discovery: This dreadful image of the place where the farm buried the pigs on site was part of evidence forming a case of animal cruelty against farmer Stephen Brown

His body was found at 7.30am by police who were called to his farm. Officers said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Mr Brown kept 4,000 pigs on his 500 acre arable and mixed farm which has been in his family since 1920. He took it over from his father Michael, 82, a former parish council chairman who still lives on the farm.
Police guarding the farm entrance said the family were too upset to comment.
One section of the footage showed a worker repeatedly beating a pig on the face with a plastic rod.
The same worker was seen using an iron bar to beat a pig to death, raining down repeated strikes until the animal was left twitching on the concrete.

Horrific: Workers were caught on video beating pigs with iron bars, battering piglets, scraping knives across their backs and smashing animals onto concrete floors.

The RSPCA, which described the footage as ‘some of the most shocking’ it had seen, confirmed last night that inquiries were continuing into the farm.
Mr Brown gave an emotional interview to BBC News on Monday saying he was ‘gutted and mortified’ by the footage, but he claimed it had been ‘dramatised.’
East Harling hairdresser Lorraine Mitchell, 40, who used to work as a pigman on Mr Brown's farm, around 15-years-ago, said: ‘He was a hard working farmer who cared a lot for his animals.
‘I never saw him do anything bad to the pigs or raise a hand to them. He was always concerned about their welfare and made sure they had the right medication and were treated properly.
‘His pigs would win awards and certificates because they were so well looked after. There was never anything like the horrendous scenes in this film footage.

source: dailymail