CONVICTED (2015) | David Nightingale, born 27 September 1991, of Oakley Walk, Eston, Middlesbrough TS6 0TE – caught on camera as he attempted to kill a badger
Unemployed father Nightingale was caught out when RSPCA officers arrived at his home with a warrant and found pictures of the attempted badger kill on his mobile phone. Other photographs of dead deer and a badly injured dog were also found on the phone.
The photographs were discovered when RSPCA inspectors were tipped off about a practice called ‘dropping’ where a wild rabbit is caught and released for dogs to chase and kill.
A video was found on Nightingale’s Facebook profile relating to the ‘dropping’ and when his home was searched two dogs were found living in filthy conditions with no water and old hunting-related injuries.
He was initially prosecuted in July 2015 for causing unnecessary harm to the dogs but as part of that investigation his mobile phone was seized and the images of badger baiting were found, leading to a second prosecution.
John Ellwood, prosecuting, said: “For reasons unknown, some people locate badger setts and send terriers down those setts with radio receivers expecting that the dog will encounter a badger.
“They will then dig down whilst the dog is fighting the badger and somehow haul out the dog and the badger and then set big dogs on the badger to watch it being torn to pieces.
“The defendant was present at such a scene on February 21 this year and took photographs of what was happening on his mobile telephone.
“Those photographs show the digging of the sett, and more importantly, the injuries to the dog. Again, for reasons unknown, such people like the idea of their dogs being injured – it gives them some form of kudos.”
Nightingale was convicted in July 2015 of animal welfare offences with regard to the dogs found at his home and given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from keeping dogs for five years. His dogs were re-homed by the RSPCA.
In November 2015 Nightingale admitted a single count of attempting to kill a badger. The latest animal cruelty conviction means that Nightingale must serve an extra four months’ suspended sentence on top of the sentence he received in July.
Sentence: 12 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months; costs of £770. Banned from keeping dogs for five years (expired 2020).
