Monthly Archives: June 2011

Animal Abandonment, rabbits, Small Furries, Worst of the Worst

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: Aimee PIckthorne

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CONVICTED (2011) | Aimee Nicole Pickthorne, born 9 April 1992, of Tiverton Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST2 0AR – left her pet rabbit to starve to death in an outside hutch.

Animal abuser Aimee Pickthorne from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK
Mother-of-three and rabbit killer Aimee PIckthorne, whose ban on owning animals expires in June 2021.

The black lop was left for a week in February 2011 without food or water while Pickthorne went to stay with her sister. Pickthorne contended that she had arranged for a friend to feed her pet but would not name the person.

When found by the RSPCA, the rabbit had been dead for a couple of days. His body was emaciated and his hip and rib bones were prominent.

Defending Pickthorne, who as of 2021 is working in a care home, Mark Bromley said that his client had lost interest in the rabbit after she was given a cat. He added that she would’ve disposed of the carcass but couldn’t “bring herself to deal with it because she was quite fond of the rabbit”.

Sentencing (June 2011): 12-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work. She was ordered to pay £766.87 to cover vet fees, RSPCA charges and court costs. She will pay the charges out of her benefits at a rate of £5-a-week. Disqualified from keeping or helping to care for any animals for 10 years (expired June 2021).

Original source This is Staffordshire (article removed).

Dogs, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders, Worst of the Worst

Dunmurry, Belfast: Henry Williamson

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CONVICTED (2011) | Henry Williamson, born 16/02/1942, of 56 Barnfield Road, Dunmurry, Belfast, County Antrim BT28 3TQ – ran a “dog factory” where animals were kept purely for profit and for repeated breeding.

Dog breeder from hell Henry Williamson pictured outside court

In June 2011 Williamson pleaded guilty to six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to puppies and dogs in relation to his breeding operation.

Over 60 dogs were found at the premises in filthy makeshift pens with no access to natural light. Many of the animals had urine scalds on their paws and many more were suffering from skin and ear irritations. None of the dogs were being fed a proper diet. Any medical treatment had been administered by Williamson himself.

The Chief Executive of the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) said this of Williamson’s horrific treatment of the dogs: “We believe that if one pup wasn’t fit to go in the shop window he disposed of it in what we would call a very, very callous manner.

“He wasn’t one bit interested in the dogs — he was only interested in what came out of their wombs. That’s all he cared about: what was pregnant and what gave birth”.

Horrifically it seemed that dead pups had been fed through a mincer, which was clogged with “blood, guts and animal fur”, and fed to Williamson’s ferrets. The half-eaten carcasses of still-born pups were removed from the ferret enclosure.

Williamson was due to be sentenced in July 2011 but we have as yet been unable to find any information on this.

Sentencing: unknown.

Belfast Telegraph

Birds, Cats, Dogs, Equine Abuse, farms / smallholdings, Food Production, Hoarders, horses and ponies, Lifers, Multiple Species

Pontypridd: Eric and Doreen Buckley

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CONVICTED (2011) | Eric Buckley (born c. 1955) and wife Doreen (now deceased) of Tower Street, Pontypridd CF37 1NR – kept 9 geese, 2 goats, a cat,  11 former racing greyhounds and a pony in the basement  of a former pub

Animal abuser Eric Buckley of Pontypridd and some of the animals found in the cellar of his putrid home
Serial animal abuser Eric Buckley of Pontypridd, South Wales. Doreen Buckley died in 2015.

The Buckleys admitted chronic neglect of two dozen animals kept in a squalid cellar at their three-storey home.

The pair had already been banned from keeping dogs for 10 years due to animal welfare breaches in 1993.

After more series breaches in 1995 both were banned from keeping all animals for life.

Then in 2011 they were caught keeping a cat, 11 retired racing greyhounds, nine geese, a pony and two goats in a former  pub in High Street, Gilfach Goch, Rhondda Valley.

Shocked RSPCA officials found the couple’s “stinking” home to be infested with animal faeces.

At one point up to 13 greyhounds had the run of the rambling three-storey former pub, used by them as a toilet.

Most, however, were kept in an unlit cellar whose floor was almost an inch deep in animal waste.

A vet brought in to administer to the animals once they were located was forced to extract 34 rotting teeth from the mouth of one dog.

Four of the dogs were suffering from flea infestations, ear infections and oral disease with subsequent veterinary treatment for the animals amounting to £13,333.

RSPCA inspector Nicola Johnston said when Eric Buckley was approached about the conditions and asked why he kept so many animals, he answered: “Why not?”

The property was in such a putrid condition it was regarded as proof of breaching animal welfare rules alone.

Eric Buckley admitted all the charges against him while his wife failed to attend but had previously made full admissions of all charges through her lawyer.

Sentencing |

Eric Buckley: jailed for 12 weeks. Banned from keeping animals for life.
Doreen Buckley: 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Lifetime ban on keeping animals.

Daily Mail
BBC News
Wales Online

animal fighting / baiting, badger baiting, Dogs, foxes, hunting with dogs, Organised Animal Crime, Wildlife Crime / Bloodsports

Burnley, Lancashire: Jeff Johnson

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CONVICTED (2011) | Jeffrey Johnson aka JJ Johnson, born c. 1977, of 37 Forfar Street, Burnley BB11 4ER – convicted of hunting badgers with dogs.

Jeff ‘JJ’ Johnson with Leanne ‘LB’ Buck/Johnson

Johnson told the court that he had been digging close to a badger sett in Altham because his terrier had got trapped after chasing a rabbit down a hole. He denied having any interest in badgers but was convicted after a trial.

Johnson, a part-time window cleaner and father of three, was seen stood in a three foot deep hole with a spade in his hand by a badger enthusiast.

The enthusiast challenged Johnson and another man as to what they were doing and Johnson said something about digging for a fox.

He said they then ran off before the police arrived.

Johnson told the court he was walking his dogs, the terrier and a lurcher, in the area and they had been chasing rabbits. He said the dogs ran off and he found the lurcher near the entrance to what he now knew to be the badger sett.

Johnson could hear his dog crying underground and when she did not respond to his calls decided to go home for a spade so he could try and dig her out. He said he blocked the entrance to the sett so the dog would not get out and run away in his absence.

Johnson said he came back with a friend and while he was digging the dog emerged from the sett and his friend caught her.

Magistrates did not believe his version of events, however. Finding him guilty they fined him £270 and ordered him to pay £265 in costs.

Wildlife Guardian