CONVICTED (2015) | Luke Marshall, born c. 1986, of Sturton Villas, Scawby, Brigg DN20 9DH – left a rubber band round his dog’s nose until it became severely infected.
Luke Marshall
Luke Marshall pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal after he “failed to notice” the band wrapped around the grey crossbreed dog’s nose for between 10 and 14 days.
RSPCA prosecutor Rachel Taylor told the court Marshall was not the primary owner of the dog, named Haribo, but should have noticed the wound caused by the band.
She said: “Mr Marshall was interviewed by the RSPCA. He accepted being the joint owner.
“He conceded he hadn’t checked enough and should have noticed the injury.”
Marshall is currently staying with his father, who owns two dogs.
District Judge Ray Murphy said: “I’m sure you have searched your conscience forwards, backwards and upside down. You are to have no responsibility for your father’s dogs at all, even taking them for a walk.”
Marshall’s ex wife Ayshea Marshall (née Tebbett) was prosecuted separately for Haribo’s suffering. She too was given a community service and banned from keeping animals for five years.
Sentencing: 100 hours of unpaid community work; ordered to pay a total of £1,390.15. Banned from owning animals for five years (expired 2020).
Original source: Scunthorpe Telegraph (link removed).
CONVICTED (2015) | Stefan Tad McCormick aka Stefan Dixon, born 22/04/1991, most recently of Woodchurch Lane, Birkenhead CH42 9PD – broke a puppy’s legs by slamming him into a wall.
Stefan McCormick was on bail for the brutal attack on his four-month-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Ty, when he breached a non-molestation order and beat up his former partner.
He was jailed for 20 months at Liverpool crown court on October 9, 2014, for the alcohol-fuelled assault on the 17-year-old in Hoylake, in which he punched, kicked and dragged her along the street.
A week later, he appeared via video link at Wirral magistrates’ court, having earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
A recent photo (2018) of Stefan McCormick, who uses the surname Dixon on social media. McCormick. McCormick, who works in his father’s tattoo shop in Birkenhead Market, claims to have cancer but members of his own family say this is an attention-seeking lie.
The court heard the Staffy’s injuries, sustained in December 2013, were so bad he “screamed” when examined by a vet, who was left with no option but to put him down.
Chris Murphy, prosecuting, told the court how RSPCA officers were called to McCormick’s home after a report a dog had been hit by a car.
But the court was told the officer who attended quickly concluded something more sinister had happened.
On examination, the officer said “the dog was clearly in pain – it was unable to get on to its forelimbs. Its paws were bent over and it tried to bunny hop but screamed.”
Vets said the injuries suggested the dog had its legs ripped apart, with one reporting: “The injuries were consistent with a person pulling a puppy by its forelimbs using undue force.”
2020 police mugshot of puppy killer Stefan McCormick
When an expert was called in to further assess the puppy, he said Ty had suffered “severe blunt force trauma” to his front legs – adding the injuries were consistent with “the dog being picked up by the front legs and swung against a solid object”.
After the hearing RSPCA Inspector Anthony Joynes described himself as “relieved” McCormick had pleaded guilty, saying the injuries Ty had sustained were “appalling”.
He said: “This has been a long drawn out investigation, probably one of the most brutal and violent I have ever dealt with as well as my colleagues and the police and the vets involved have all been upset by this case… I’m just hoping now that we can get some closure on the case in a few weeks’ time and hopefully the magistrates do the right thing and sentence Mr McCormick accordingly.”
Sentencing: originally jailed for 24 weeks for the animal cruelty offence, to be served consecutively with the 20-month sentence he was already serving for assaulting his ex-partner. This was later reduced to 20 weeks on appeal after the court heard how McCormick had suffered from mental health problems.
McCormick was jailed for 10 weeks after wishing coronavirus on nurses and throwing a bloodied tissue at a hospital worker.
Medics were trying to help cruel Stefan McCormick, but he repaid them by becoming abusive when they wouldn’t let his girlfriend accompany him because of Covid 19 fears.
After shouting at nurses, telling them he hoped they get the disease, he also called a female security officer a “bitch” and a “slag”.
McCormick admitted intentionally causing harassment, assaulting an emergency worker and breaching a suspended sentence.
McCormick was jailed for 24 weeks in October 2014, consecutive to a 20-month sentence he was serving for battering his ex-girlfriend, despite at the time having a copy of a court order to stay away from her in his pocket. This was later reduced by four weeks on appeal.
At the time of this latest hospital incident he had a nine-month suspended sentence hanging over him, for an affray at San Carlo restaurant in June 2018.
McCormick was jailed for 17 months for wounding in 2017 and was on licence at the time of the restaurant disturbance.
