A chicken farmer has been given a suspended jail sentence for falsely claiming that eggs produced in crowded henhouses were free-range.

Eggs from James Gigg’s farm in Dorset were sold to shops and delicatessens that marketed them to customers as free-range.

Judge Paul Cook told Gigg, 41, at Taunton crown court: “You have brought shame on yourself and brought embarrassment on your family. You cheated people buying free-range eggs.”

He sentenced Gigg to 12 months in jail but suspended it for 18 months because he accepted the farmer had not acted out of greed. The court was told Gigg was a hard-working man living in a mobile home who was struggling to make ends meet. “This offence was not born out of greed on your part,” the judge said.

The court was told that Gigg broke EU regulations by overstocking his henhouses, which meant the eggs could not be classed as free-range – and he knew that it was an offence to do so. He also provided inspectors with false information and paperwork.

His fraud was worth between £133,000 and £200,000 and involved him packing 3,000 more hens into his chicken houses than allowed.

Gigg admitted fraud and giving false information to an inspector. The judge said the fraud did not have an effect on the public’s health.

Ian Fenny, prosecuting, said the public bought free range eggs for “ethical considerations” and said that standards had to be implemented rigorously.

Fenny said that in interviews Gigg said he was struggling financially and committed the offence out of desperation rather than greed.

Sarah Regan, defending, said Gigg was in a “blind panic” when inspectors arrived and accepted he should have come clean immediately. She said his birds were perfectly healthy.