A FARRIER who has had his licence taken away for a second time has vowed to defy the law by continuing his trade.

Joseph Cannon risks being hauled before the courts by ignoring the latest ban imposed last month. He was struck off by the Farriers' Registration Council after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Defending his decision to carry on working as a farrier, he said: "I've being doing this job since the age of 14. My father and grandfather were farriers. This isn't just my job, it's my heritage."

The ban prevents Mr Cannon, of Martin Street, Fairfield, from carrying out farriery or describing himself as a farrier or any term which suggests he is one. To do so is a criminal offence under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975.

At the hearing at which he was struck off, Mr Cannon admitted he had earlier been convicted at Manchester Crown Court of horse theft and damaging a window. The Farriers Registration Council found proven a separate charge of abandoning a horse, which Mr Cannon had denied.

In 1988, he was banned by the same professional body for hitting and whipping a horse.

Speaking this week, Mr Cannon (54) said he would still continue his trade despite being struck off for a second time.

He said: "The theft of the horse relates to an incident when my step-daughter's stallion was kept at fields at Broad Oak which I use."

He said that after the animal escaped on numerous occasions, he took it to Saddleworth Moor, near Halifax, and let it loose.

"I deny this amounted to theft or abandonment," he added. However, Mr Cannon did confirm he had pleaded guilty to horse theft at the Manchester Crown Court hearing in 2002.

After his first ban in 1988, Mr Cannon carried on his farriery work. He was taken to court twice and fined before successfully re-applying for his licence to be restored in 1995.

A defiant Mr Cannon said: "I will be carrying on my livelihood despite this. All my customers are aware of what has happened and they are standing by me.

"I know I risk being taken to court. But at the end of the day, it's just a fine. It's not as if I'm going around mugging old ladies and stealing their purses."