CONVICTED (2010) | Julie Carter, born 9 March 1970, of 22 Herald Way, Bicester OX26 4SF – drowned eight of her pet cats one by one in a baby bath at her home.
Over a week, mother-of-one Julie Carter subjected each of the fully grown cats, aged between one and three, to a painful death by holding them under water.
She admitted causing unnecessary suffering by killing the animals between May 25 and June 7, 2010.
The court heard a member of staff at Charter Community Housing visited the house and was struck by the smell of cat urine.
Carter was told she would have to remove some of her 11 cats and clean up the house.
But when RSPCA inspector Doug Davidson went to the premises only three cats were left. Carter later admitted she had killed the other eight.
Defending, Paul Bevan said Carter knew what she had done, but had a “limited degree of understanding”.
He said she had received threats over the case.
Sentencing | 12 weeks in jail. Lifetime ban on all animals.
CONVICTED (2010) | Daphne Fairclough, born c. 1968, and son Shaun Malcolm Terence Fairclough, born 11 November 1987, both of 117 Lanchester Avenue, Gateshead NE9 7AN – starved their pet goat so badly the animal had to be put to sleep
Daphne and Shaun Fairclough pictured outside court
A pet goat belonging to mother and son Daphne and Shaun Fairclough was left to starve in January 2010 – the coldest winter for 30 years.
As Arctic conditions brought misery to Britain, the goat was left without food or water on West Farm, at Whickham Highway, in Gateshead.
A woman visiting her horse in a nearby field heard the dying animal’s cries and alerted the RSPCA.
But it was too late to save the goat, who had to be put down, Gateshead.
The Faircloughs admitted animal cruelty charges.
Clive McKeag, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the animal was found collapsed in a stable on a urine-covered concrete floor with her bones protruding.
An examination suggested she had been starved for a minimum of a week but more likely over a month.
“An RSPCA inspector said the animal had been living in conditions that were unacceptable,” said Mr McKeag.
Shaun Fairclough, who owned the goat, had asked his mother to go and see her but accepts he didn’t look after her properly.
Tom Iceton, defending, said both mother and son regret what happened. “Mrs Fairclough finds this very distressing and she is very remorseful,” he said.
“The goat belonged to Shaun and it was his responsibility to make sure it was properly cared for and looked after. Work shifts caused him some problems, his mother did the best she could but he should have made arrangements.”
Sentencing: both were given a 12-month supervised community order. The mother was ordered to complete 40 hours of unpaid work. She was banned from keeping animals, except cats and dogs, until 2015.
Her son was told complete 200 hours of unpaid work and banned from keeping or caring for any animal for 10 years (expired October 2020). He had to pay £250 costs.
Shaun Fairclough was convicted of further animal cruelty charges in relation to chickens he kept on an allotment. He was also found to have breached his existing ban on owning animals which only ended in October 2020.
Serial animal abuser Shaun Fairclough
The RSPCA was contacted in September 2019 with concerns for the welfare of a number of birds at an allotment in Haltwhistle. When rescuers arrived at the premises they discovered the bodies of five dead birds.
RSPCA Inspector Kirsty Keogh-Laws said: “When I arrived at the allotment I was told that a large number of birds had previously been kept there, and sadly I found the bodies of five dead chickens among the pens, that had been left to rot.
“I made enquiries to find out who was keeping the birds, which took some time, but I discovered that the birds were under the care of Shaun Fairclough which was a breach of an existing disqualification order.”
Fairclough pleaded guilty to having 20 chickens and six ducks including five silkie type chickens, while being disqualified from owning animals.
Conditions in which the bodies of the dead chickens were discovered
The court heard that he mistakenly thought his previous disqualification order had ended and suggested his friends were helping him to look after the chickens.
Fairclough was sentenced to an 18 month community order with 26 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and 150 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £85 which is to be deducted at source.
A disqualification order was granted for a period of five years.
CONVICTED (2010) | Mary Elizabeth Bale, born 15/06/1965, of St Michaels Road, Coventry CV2 4EJ – recorded on video stroking a four-year-old tabby cat named Lola before picking her up by the scruff of her neck and dropping her into a wheelie bin.
Twisted bank worker Mary Bale from Coventry dumped Lola the cat in a wheelie bin. Fortunately Lola was rescued or could have been crushed.
The RSPCA charged Mary Bale after CCTV cameras showed her throwing four-year-old Lola into a bin outside her owners’ home in Coventry.
The former bank worker pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a cat. A charge of not providing the cat with a suitable environment was dropped.
Bale’s actions sparked outrage when Lola’s owner Darryl Mann posted the footage on the internet.
He found Lola after she had been in the bin for 15 hours, then checked his security camera video to see what had happened.
Within hours, angry messages had been posted online and later a Facebook page reportedly calling for Bale’s death, was removed.
District judge Caroline Goulborn said the potential for harm to the cat had been “substantial” but the reality was she had not been hurt.
“The media interest in this case has resulted in you being vilified in some quarters and I have taken that into account,” she said.
Coventry Magistrates Court also heard that Bale’s elderly father had been gravely ill at the time and that he had since died.
“I accept you were in a stressful situation at the time, but that’s no excuse for what you did,” Judge Goulborn said.
Bale’s solicitor David Murray said his client could offer no explanation for her actions.
He added that she was suffering from anxiety and depression and had resigned from her job after 27 years.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Nicky Foster said the costs order and the ban would act as a deterrent to others.
“She (Bale) said in court that she doesn’t know why she has done it, so she has no excuse.”
Ms Foster said Lola had been extremely lucky to come out unharmed.
Sentence: total of £1400 fines, costs and charges. Banned from keeping or owning animals for five years (expired October 2015).
CONVICTED (2010) | Christopher Gallier, born 26 February 1987, of Canal Street, Oldham OL9 7JR – blasted his pet dog in a shooting spree in his own home
In March 2010 a Sharpei-type dog named Roxy was deliberately shot in the neck with an airgun by her owner Christopher Gallier.
Gallier initially told police that the dog had been injured by glass in his backyard before claiming instead that a pellet had ricocheted and hit Roxy. In the end he admitted that he had deliberately targeted the dog during a shooting spree inside his home.
X-rays revealed a pellet ledged deep in Roxy’s neck muscles – an injury that would have caused her sustained pain over a period of days.
Gallier pleaded guilty to shooting the dog, failing to get her veterinary treatment and failing to keep her and a second dog in a hygienic and hazard free environment.
Roxy survived after an operation and she and another dog were signed over to the RSPCA in August 2010.
Sentencing: Gallier was given a two-month prison sentence, suspended for one year and banned from keeping animals for life.
#MostEvil | Paul Hinton, born 07/11/1975, as at 2018 of Borough Road, Darlington DL1 1SG – killed a stray dog by taping up his muzzle then subjecting him to a violent beating
Hinton tied up the mongrel before subjecting him to a prolonged beating, during which he kicked him in the head, spine, tail, leg and abdomen. He also taped the dog’s muzzle shut. The dog died of impaired breathing and a heart attack as a result of traumatic injury.
Despite the pre-meditated and sustained nature of Hinton’s violent attack on the defenceless animal, a charge of torture was withdrawn.
Hinton alleged that he bound the dog’s muzzle to protect his children, claiming that one of them had been bitten.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Garry Palmer said: “What this dog went through is the stuff of nightmares. Thinking about that has caused many a sleepless night for me.
“The premeditated nature of what happened here makes it one of the most shocking cases I have ever dealt with. It was horrific.”
Sentencing: 10-week prison sentence. Life ban on keeping animals.
CONVICTED (2010) | Arran Patrick Chaplin, born 05/03/1990, whose family home is at Flamstead Road, Ilkeston DE7 5LS but as of July 2020 he may be living in the vicinity of Watnall, Nottinghamshire – threw two kittens out of a bedroom window to their death
March 2020 image of Arran Chaplin
Manic Arran Chaplin killed the kittens before punching his girlfriend in the face, breaking her jaw. He then attacked her 12-year-old autistic brother who owned the kittens he had just killed.
Chaplin was already on bail for damaging a railway line when he flew into a drug-addled rage at his girlfriend Sarah Bacon ‘s Derbyshire home.
Derby Crown Court heard that Chaplin had gone to Miss Bacon’s home to pick up some belongings when he began trashing his partner’s room, and threw the cats out of the window.
Sentencing Chaplin to 18 months, Judge John Wait described the killing of the two kittens and the subsequent beatings as “appalling”.
