CONVICTED (2013) | Tracey Cliffe (aka Tracey Chubbs), born 04/11/1982, of Shale Street, Burnley BB12 0PR – left a family of Rottweilers to starve to death
Neglect by Tracey Cliffe left only three survivors from a family of two adult Rottweilers and four puppies.
The tragic scene was discovered by RSPCA inspector Charlotte Booker on a visit to Cliffe’s address on Eldon Street, Bury.
David McCormick, prosecuting, said: “She saw a large amount of rubbish in one corner and there was faeces all over the yard. She saw a dead rottweiler in the yard, all its bones were visible and it was emaciated. Curled up in a ball next to it was a live rottweiler which was emaciated.
“It was depressed and did not react when the officer shouted. Both were lying on a pile of rubbish.”
When the inspector called police to get inside, they found a kitchen covered in filth and excrement. A dead puppy wrapped in newspaper had been left on the worktop. Three puppies – believed to have been born to the surviving adult who was too weak to feed them – were in a crate lined with damp newspaper on the floor. Cliffe said another puppy had been eaten by the starving male adult.
A vet found that the dead dog, a three-year-old called Kaiser, had died from malnutrition, weighing just 18.6kg – less than half the expected 45kg.
The second dog, a bitch called Jez, was also malnourished with ribs, pelvic bones and spine clearly visible through her skin.
The surviving puppies weighed as little as 4kg. One had to be put down by RSPCA officers.
Cliffe was found guilty of four animal neglect offences in her absence.
After just five weeks in RSPCA care Jez put on 10kg. Very happily she and the two surviving pups went to new homes.
Sentencing: 20-week suspended prison sentence. Disqualified from keeping all animals for life.
CONVICTED (2013) | Abdul Khadir, born 29 April 1981, of 72 Portsea Street, Birchills Leamore, Walsall WS3 2AU- dragged a nine-week-old puppy along the street causing significant injuries.
Khadir was banned from owning dogs until 2023 after a court heard the puppy was found covered in blood.
He was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and given a 12-month supervision order. He was ordered to pay a total of £245 in costs and surcharge. Ten-year ban on owning dogs (expires November 2023).
CONVICTED (2013) | Stephen Patrick Martyn, born 10 December 1973, of Chadwick Road, Harlesden, London NW10 – kicked his pet dog to death in a drunken rage.
Martyn, an alcoholic who’s originally from Dublin, told magistrates he could not remember attacking his Jack Russell terrier, Russ, in front of horrified onlookers on March 6, 2013.
Russ suffered two ruptures in the spleen and multiple tears in the liver from the attack, according to a post-mortem report.
The dog suffered in pain for at least 20 minutes before falling unconscious and later being found under a bush.
RSPCA inspector Mike Beaman said: “The kicking that this poor dog received was brutal. The fact that Mr Martyn was so drunk is not an excuse.”
He added: “When I picked up Russ’s body, blood poured from his mouth, such was the extent of his internal injuries. This dog suffered a slow and painful death.”
The court heard how Martyn had taken Russ out for a walk and had met friends who offered him a drink.
He drank four cans of alcohol, but does not remember walking home, kicking the dog or being arrested.
The court was told that Martyn has received voluntary treatment for alcoholism and he was extremely remorseful.
Martyn admitted one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and was sentenced to 16 weeks in jail. He was banned from keeping animals for life.
CONVICTED (2013) | Evan Lloyd Evans, born c. 1944, of Pencarth Uchaf Farm, Chwilog, Pwllheli LL53 6SW – caused unnecessary suffering and failed to meet the welfare needs of 51 Welsh mountain ponies.
Horse breeder Evan Lloyd Evans was found guilty of keeping 51 horses in appalling conditions at Cricieth Stud, Pwllheli.
The court heard RSPCA officers visited the stud farm on 27 June 2012, and a vet put nine horses to sleep due to untreatable hoof conditions and to prevent further suffering.
Another 50 horses were removed.
Of the 59 horses discovered at Pencarth Uchaf, Chwilog, near Pwllheli only five were found to have normal hooves.
The court was shown harrowing videos made by the RSPCA and the World Horse Welfare charity showing the poor state of the animals’ feet and their living conditions.
Other charges dealt with allegations Evans failed to provide adequate bedding and exposed the horses to hazards.
The court heard the floor in all the sheds were covered in dirty hay. In most of the sheds there were pieces of broken agricultural equipment on which the horses could injure themselves.
The fencing around the pens was makeshift and in a poor state.
RSPCA inspector Mark Roberts said: “The conditions we found at Cricieth Stud were appalling and completely inappropriate for the ponies kept there.
“Many of them had acute problems with their feet and other serious health issues.
“We had been alerted to the fact there were many ponies in unsuitable conditions but did not expect to have to remove 50 of them on veterinary advice.
“In addition the vets also advised that nine had to be put to sleep as sadly their condition was so extreme there was no other way to alleviate their suffering.”
“It was an extremely bad situation made worse by the fact that many of the ponies were virtually unhandled making any necessary treatment incredibly difficult to carry out.”
Nigel Weller, for Evans, said: “He has devoted his life to breeding horses and he is quite proud of what he has achieved with horses which bear the Criccieth prefix. He is quite well known and his animals are desired and he is anxious the bloodline is protected.”
He said the situation had existed at the farm for only a short time and was exacerbated by Evans’ poor health and lack of help.
He told the court the number of horses at the farm had been reduced by two-thirds and the remainder transferred to his daughter who lives nearby and who will be able to care for them with assistance from other family members.
Inspector Roberts said the case highlighted how “over breeding and overstocking can spiral out of control”.
“This is a fair sentence and sends a strong message to all horse owners and breeders that they must put the welfare of their horses before all else,” he added.
Tony Evans, north and mid Wales field officer for World Horse Welfare, said: “It saddens me to think that all the help and advice that was given to the owner failed to have any significant effect.
“As our main priority has to be the welfare of the ponies, we had no choice than to involve the RSPCA to undertake stronger measures.
“In many of the situations we deal with, long and costly prosecution cases can often be avoided if the owner follows the advice given by World Horse Welfare field officers and takes appropriate action.”
The judge was told that looking after the horses since June 2012 had cost the RSPCA £300,000 but that Evans had no money.
Jailing Evans Judge Andrew Shaw said: “For many years you were an owner, keeper and breeder of Welsh mountain ponies. I am treating this as a medium term period of neglect. You ignored warnings and nine animals were in such a poor condition they were euthanised. These are particularly serious offences.”
Sentencing: jailed for 10 weeks. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years (expires November 2023).
Despite Evan Lloyd Evans’ ban on keeping animals still being in force, he was found to have 91 ponies on his land. The ponies were being kept in poor conditions causing suffering to dozens of them.
Evans pleaded guilty to 10 Animal Welfare Act offences and was given a 20-week suspended jail term.
The prosecution followed a multi-agency operation at Evans’ farm in September 2020, after reports horses and other animals were being kept in poor conditions, and – in the case of the ponies – in breach of a pre-existing 10-year ban handed to Evans in 2013.
Video footage shown to the court revealed the conditions at the farm and showed horses stood in filthy, dark and hazardous conditions.
Dozens of horses and other animals were kept in outbuildings, barns and fields in highly inappropriate conditions, with faeces everywhere – and even a bucket of dead rats, the RSPCA said.
The court heard Evans kept 91 ponies in illegal conditions which were unhygienic and not free from hazards.
Vets felt dozens of the horses had suffered unnecessarily – including one, a Welsh Section A pony, who had not received appropriate veterinary care for a broken leg; and another four Section A ponies who had not been given vet attention for lameness. Evans also failed to ensure six of his ponies had appropriate treatment for parasites.
A pony had a severe facial deformity which had gone unchecked. A total of 28 of the ponies suffered as a consequence of Evans’ failure to secure appropriate dental care, while a further eight were also deemed to have suffered through not receiving appropriate hoof care.
In addition to the suspended jail term, Evans was banned from keeping horses and poultry for 20 years, fined £1,000 fine and a £128 victim surcharge.
Evans admitted breaching the previous 10-year ban from keeping equines. His ban was extended by the magistrates and will now continue until 2041.
CONVICTED (2013) | pet hoarders Estella Victory Brown, born 30 April and David Evans, at the time living together in Penn Road, Aylesbury HP21 8JU – kept 13 cats in squalor and mistreated them.
Cat hoarders and abusers Estella Brown and David Evans
The jobless couple kept the 13 poorly cats in a squalid environment stained with faeces. Their severe financial problems meant they were unable to afford cat food or vets bills.
Janita Patel, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said on one visit to the property, Brown had to be prevented from throwing a cat out of the window.
The 13 cats were neglected and at risk of violence due to Brown’s volatile nature
She added that inspectors found a black cat called Sooty had injured her leg and that a thin, ginger cat had bones protruding from her fur.
The cats, who were fed a diet of bread and raw potatoes, were all under-weight and infested with fleas.
Five of them were immediately taken to a vet after a visit to the house in May and had to be put down.
Evans realised they were unable to cope but did not clean the house because Brown would have ‘gone mad’, Miss Patel said.
Brown, whose pets’ names included Smokey, Ben and Tigger, considered herself a ‘good owner’, the court heard.
Magistrates were also told she prefers cats to humans and took in a number of them to help out friends.
Chair of the magistrates Anna Taylor told a tearful Brown that her behaviour was ‘reckless and grossly negligent’.
RSPCA Inspector Jaimie Godfrey said: “This was a really sad case.
“These cats were living in utterly unsanitary and grimy conditions – it was heartbreaking to see.”
The pair pleaded guilty to counts including failing to meet the needs of their cats and failing to protect them from pain.
Sentencing | Brown and Evans were sentenced to 200 and 180 hours of unpaid work in the community respectively. Five-year ban (expired 2018).
CONVICTED (2013) | Karl Dyke, born c. 1961, of Barrie Road, Green Lanes, Hereford HR4 0QQ – tried to kill his neighbour’s cat by hanging her from a noose.
Evil Karl Dyke tied a slipknot around the neck of his neighbour’s cat in an attempt to kill her. He admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal at an earlier hearing, but claimed he only wanted to teach her a lesson for soiling his garden.
Magistrates didn’t believe him, however, and found him guilty of attempting to kill the animal, a Siamese known as Corolie.
The court heard how in July 2013, Dyke’s neighbour Tracey Lawrence saw him carrying her cat – who looked to be in distress.
Peter Love, prosecuting, told magistrates that Mrs Lawrence had waited on Dyke’s drive while her husband Michael entered Dyke’s garden.
Michael Lawrence told the court that when he opened the door to the shed he found Dyke hanging Corolie from a rope.
The cat’s face was contorted and she looked “moments from death”, he said.
A brief altercation followed and the cat ran away with the noose still attached to her neck. She was later found shaking in fear underneath a vehicle.
Corolie was rushed to a local vet where she was found to have multiple neck injuries. She also suffered soft tissue damage to her neck and had a small cut on her lower lip.
Dyke told the court he hanged the cat to “teach her a lesson” because she kept going to the toilet in his garden. He said he had intended to suspend the cat from a table in his shed “for a few hours” before releasing her when he went to bed.
Chairman of the bench, Julia Steels, told Dyke that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified because he had “wilfully tortured” and attempted to kill the cat.
CONVICTED (2013) | Charlene Winter, born c. 1979, of Wick Parade, Wick, Littlehampton BN17 7JQ – drunkenly attacked her neighbour’s ducks, killing one of them.
Charlene Winter chased and killed her neighbour’s duck in a drunken rampage
Vile Charlene Winter was caught on CCTV clambering into her neighbour’s garden and attacking the helpless birds after a drinking session.
The court heard she became enraged by the quacking sounds made by the creatures.
CCTV captured the moment Winter and her dog (circled) attacked the birds in her neighbour’s garden
Winter eventually killed one bird by stamping on its neck and letting her pet maul it before wandering out of the garden.
The appalling act of animal cruelty, which took place around 8am on September 3, 2012, was captured by a camera that had been set by the homeowner.
A post mortem revealed the bird died from a compressive trauma after being squashed with a heavy weight.
RSPCA Inspector Andrew Kirby said: “This poor duck died after being stood on. It was clearly an intentional and incredibly cruel act.
“Winter showed no regard whatsoever for this duck and was seen standing on her in a deliberate way – crushing the poor bird to death.”
Sentencing | Winter admitted two counts of animal cruelty and was ordered to pay £300 costs and banned from owning animals for five years (expired 2018).
