CONVICTED (2015) | Sheridan ‘Shez’ Greer, born 21/11/1991, most recent known address Wellington Street, Barnoldswick BB18 but as at January 2020 believed to be in Parkinson Street, Burnley Wood, Burnley, Lancashire BB11 – locked two dogs in a kitchen without food or water until they died and threw their emaciated remains out with the rubbish.

Single mother Greer locked Staffordshire Bull terriers Patch and Duke in the kitchen without food or water after moving out of her terrace house in Burnley, Lancashire, following her split with her boyfriend.

Twelve-month-old Patch and 18-month-old Duke were forced to scavenge desperately from bin bags and bare cupboards and even attempted to eat empty tin cans and old dishcloths.

Police and RSPCA inspectors raided Greer’s home and found the carcasses of her two pets dumped in the back yard surrounded by bin bags full of rubbish.

Greer also left her two pet cats to fend for themselves, but they survived the four-week ordeal.

Greer admitted causing unnecessary suffering to Patch and Duke, and failing to provide a suitable environment for the cats.

Greer told investigators that she couldn’t cope with looking after her pets after her benefits were reduced and she split up with her boyfriend.

But rather than contact the authorities for help with the dogs she simply moved out, abandoning the dogs for four weeks.

She also left her two pet cats to fend for themselves, but fortunately they survived.

The animals’ ordeal began when Greer moved in with a friend leaving her pets behind.

She returned to the terrace house on several occasions but did not give her pets any food or water.

A post mortem showed that both dogs weighed 11 kilos when they died, 20 per cent less than 14 kilos they should have weighed.

RSPCA Inspector Lyndsey Taylor said the dogs would have been starving for at least four weeks before they died to have lost the weight that they did.

She said: ‘The scene in the house was appalling. The smell was overpowering and the mess was shocking. In the kitchen the two dogs had been left without any food or water.

‘It seems the dogs had got into the bin and it was clear that they were so hungry that they had tried to eat dog food tins.

‘There were rags in their system which showed what they had resorted to eating dishcloths or other like items.

‘Leaving those dogs to starve to death is a heartless and callous thing to do. They would have died a slow and painful death.

‘Seeing those dogs when we first went to the house is an image that will stay with me forever.

‘They had died in the kitchen and then were thrown out like pieces of rubbish. We understand that after she moved out she had actually been coming back to the property but she still let them starve to death.

‘She probably couldn’t cope with looking after the pets but that is no excuse for what she did.’

One former neighbour of Greer’s told the Daily Mail: ‘What she did to those poor animals was a dreadful thing. She should have got a prison sentence.’

Another neighbour said: ‘She’s known as the dog killer around here. My daughter went to the school round the corner with her daughter.

‘They found out what was going on in the house because her daughter wasn’t going to school so the teachers came round.’

‘They looked through the letterbox and said there was faeces everywhere and saw some cats. Then the RSPCA turned up with the police and removed the cats who were alive, thank god.

‘They then found the dogs in the dustbin outside. It’s just disgusting.’

Sentencing: 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months; ordered to pay £200 court costs. Lifetime ban on keeping all animals.

Daily Mail
Lancashire Telegraph