Furious animal charity boss Stephen Philpott has blasted the Department of Agriculture over the Ulster farm he has described as an "absolute hellhole".

The USPCA chief has claimed the Department is not supporting cruelty charges over the discovery of horrific scenes at a Co Down farm in April.

The Department has declined to take part in tomorrow night's UTV Insight which features footage of the raid on the Katesbridge farm which which was closed down following the USPCA raid.

The raid followed a court prosecution against a sixth member of the family responsible for renting the farm at Katesbridge.

USPCA chief executive Stephen Philpott tells Insight: "I've given evidence against every member of this family except one to get them banned from keeping animals."

He said that after a successful case against Robert Beck's wife Ruth in which she was prosecuted for animal cruelty and banned from keeping animals, he organised a search operation at the farm.

"We were confronted by what I'm on record as describing as an absolute hellhole for animals," said Stephen.

The Insight team has used unseen UTV footage of the farm on the day of the raid and extensive USPCA footage of the distressing scenes that confronted them on the day.

Dead and dying pigs are seen lying around the farm yard.

Mr Philpott said: "I've spent so much time in court giving evidence against these people that last thing I expected to see when I walked round this corner were animals of any description and then it got a lot worse."

Pigs were housed in over crowded pens, but the smell of death hung over the farm.

USPCA staff soon discovered the source.

"We started to excavate this midden and I've never seen anything like it. We assumed it was full of dung. It wasn't. It was full of dead animals," said Mr Philpott.

Scores of dead animals were uncovered.

He added: "We took dozens of dead animals out of here. We stopped counting as the animals were liquidised. Every time we touched them with the digger bucket they exploded, bits of animals flew everywhere.

"I can't emphasise enough to you, by now my staff were being physically sick. We had to bring in masks. People were being ill. Every animal on this farm must have suffered."

Two Department of Agriculture officials witnessed the excavation of the midden.

But Mr Philpott says it was clear at a case conference, also attended by the PSNI, that the Department of Agriculture would not support a prosecution for causing animal suffering.

He told Insight: "The Department has told me there will be no cruelty prosecution for what went on on this farm. Now that's a disgrace, that's an absolute disgrace."

But then worse was to follow according to the USPCA chief executive. He said: "A vet present at that case conference suddenly blurted out that he had been at this farm a few months previously. He had been at this farm and had actually spoken to Robbie Beck on the end of a mobile telephone in the presence of police and destroyed a pig. I asked the obvious question 'Why, what was wrong with the pig?' Answer: 'It was suffering'. 'So you destroyed a pig under Section 1 of the Welfare Animal's Act because it was suffering and no, it didn't dawn on anyone that the man you were speaking to on the end of the phone was banned from keeping animals'.

"Silence, absolute silence and squirming in chairs."

Insight tracked down Robbie Beck to ask him about the 330 pigs found on the farm £ none of which were wearing proper identity tags.

He declined to speak to the UTV team. Beck had previously been running an illegal puppy farm at the same address.

He offered no explanation as to how these pigs came to be on the farm or what he intended to do with them.

l Suffering In Silence', UTV Insight, tomorrow night at 10.35pm