Roger Baker, who has convictions of animal cruelty spanning 30 years, was found guilty of affray at Taunton Crown Court in western England.

Veterinary surgeon Susan Potter and animal health inspector Jonathan McCulloch were filming a dead lamb and emaciated cattle on his land near Truro in Cornwall when the attack took place last February.

Baker first dragged McCulloch, 27, into the knee-deep liquid manure. When Potter went to his aid, he turned on her and pushed her in the mire of manure, cow's urine and mud, holding one hand on her face, the court was told.

Potter, 46, "fought like a wildcat" as Baker pushed her into the slurry, she told the court earlier this week.

"I went completely underneath the liquid," she said. "It was long enough for me to think that I must not breathe and that I should hold my breath or I would drown. I thought he was trying to drown me."

Baker, 61, denied attacking the officials and threatening to kill McCulloch. He was released on bail but Judge Stephen O'Malley warned him he faced jail given his history.

The jury failed to reach a majority verdict on a second charge of making a threat to kill and the case was dropped by the prosecution.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said Baker had been banned for life from keeping sheep and was jailed twice in the past six years for neglecting animals and failing to bury carcasses.