CONVICTED (2016) | Trudy Oakley, born 14/03/1970, of Redmile Walk, Peterborough PE1 4TW – allowed pet dog Pooch to suffer with excruciating eye condition for FIVE years.
Trudy Oakley left her dog Pooch to suffer an excruciatingly painful and uncomfortable eye condition for more than five years.
Staffy Pooch’s eye was in such a terrible state it appeared to be popping out of his skull.
Despite being told to have Pooch’s eye removed, his owner, Trudy Oakley, ignored vets’ pleas.
Pooch had to endure pain and suffering for another five years until he was seized by the police.
Pooch suffers from a congenital condition which caused his eye to erupt. Vets have now removed it and, although he is still undergoing treatment, fear he will also lose his other eye.
The RSPCA was alerted to Pooch’s plight in January 2016 after a tip-off from a member of the public.
Inspector Justin Stubbs went to Oakley’s home and was shocked by what greeted him.
“Pooch was in a terrible state and his eye looked horrendous,” he said. “It was like something out of a horror movie… His eyeball looked ready to pop out of his skull.
“Ms Oakley received veterinary advice in December 2010 to have Pooch’s eye removed but this was ignored and she failed to seek any further professional advice.
“That means poor Pooch was left suffering from what must have been an extremely painful and uncomfortable eye condition for more than five years. It’s just shocking.”
Pooch was removed from Oakley’s ownership and treated.
Sentence: two-year conditional discharge; £250 costs; banned from keeping animals for just one year.
CONVICTED (2016) | Martin Travers, born 30 November 1966, of Ledbury Close, in Ladywood, Birmingham – left his elderly dog to suffer with large tumours on his testicles, shoulder and chest
Chico was put to sleep on humane grounds after his owner left him to suffer with untreated tumours
Travers pleaded guilty to three offences of causing unnecessary suffering to Chico, a 15-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier.
The court heard that Chico had large tumours on his testicles which dragged on the floor as he walked. He also had tumours on his shoulder and chest.
The RSPCA was contacted by the police who were at Travers’s property on an unrelated matter in September 2015.
Chico was taken to a vet, who said he was so poorly that he had to be put to sleep to prevent further suffering.
RSPCA inspector Mike Scargill, who investigated the case, said: “This was a sad case. Although repentant, Mr Travers did not look after Chico in the way that he should have done.
“He was riddled with tumours, was incontinent, underweight and in pain – he had been like this for some time. He deserved much more than being left to suffer in this way.”
Sentence: 12-month community order, four-week curfew; costs of £100 and £60 victim surcharge. Three-year ban on keeping dogs (expired 2019).
CONVICTED (2016) | Christopher Britt, born 25 December 1984, at the time of Wheeldon Close, Ilkeston DE7 8BF – threw a dog up into the air and punched her.
Derbyshire police were called to Bath Street, Ilkeston, on March 11, 2016, following reports that a man was attacking a dog by throwing her up into the air and punching her.
The force said: “Officers arrested Britt at the scene and seized the Staffordshire bull terrier.”
Britt made threats to the officers during the incident.
In court, he pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. He also admitted using threatening or abusive words with the intent to cause fear of violence.
The unnamed dog was rehomed.
Sentencing | fined a total of £200 and ordered to pay £651 costs. Three-year ban on keeping dogs (expired 2019).
CONVICTED (2016) | serial offenders Grace Banks (aka Leah Grace Rogers) and Julian King (aka Alec Paul Rogers), both of Reed Street, Gorton, Manchester M18 8JT, and Peter Jones (aka Aneirin Joseph Sculley) of Graymarsh Drive, Poynton, Stockport SK12 1YW – imported and sold severely ill puppies to unsuspecting families.
Julian King, whose birth name was Alec Paul Rogers, and his sister Grace Banks born Leah Grace Rogers
An investigation in Manchester led to the convictions in October 2015 of three people who made £35,000 a week importing sick and dying puppies from Ireland and selling them on to heartbroken animal lovers.
The trio created a callous facade of a reputable pedigree puppy company selling healthy and happy dogs, but the reality was a short life of pain, suffering and disease for the animals.
Banks with Peter ‘Nye’ Jones, a childhood friend of her brother
RSPCA investigators uncovered how Banks, King and Jones:
Received weekly deliveries of puppies imported via ferries from the Republic of Ireland;
Kept puppies at a “holding” address at Seventeen Windows, a large rented property in Marple Road, Stockport, which had purpose-built kennels at the rear, before selling them via a network of rented residential properties;
Used a variety of different names;
Lied to buyers, telling them the puppies for sale had been bred in a homely, family environment and were the first litter;
Set up their own company through which they provided buyers with glossy “Kennel Registration” folders containing false paperwork;
Used more than 30 mobile telephones, each one for selling specific breeds of puppy, to avoid confusion when contacted by buyers.
When the RSPCA and Greater Manchester Police raided Seventeen Windows as part of Operation Pagan aimed at shutting down the sale of dogs over the internet, they were confronted with the shocking truth of the crooked gang’s criminal operation.
The bodies of four Yorkshire terrier puppies were found at one of the addresses. One had been dumped in a wheelie bin, two in a plastic bucket in the footwell of a car on the driveway and one was with a live puppy in a pen.
Evidence given by vet Dr David Martin during King’s trial suggested these puppies had died from starvation over a prolonged period of time.
At least six large plastic buckets filled with live puppies were discovered.
In total inspectors discovered 87 live puppies, including Yorkshire terriers, huskies, West Highland terriers, pomeranians, Labradors, beagles, shih tzus, French bulldogs, cockapoos and more. The average advertised price for these puppies at the time was approximately £600 each.
All of the animals were suffering from health problems including lice, pneumonia, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis and bloody stools. Some had parvovirus and distemper. No veterinary treatment had been sought for any of the puppies.
Full details of the ghastly trio and their convictions are as follows:
Grace Banks (23/09/1986), real name Leah Grace Rogers. A former prostitute, she was also commonly know as Lilly Cooper. Her other aliases included Holly Saxon and Sarah Connor. She was a director of Lilly’s Puppy Boutique Ltd which traded from a rented residential property at Seventeen Windows, Marple Road, Stockport.
For months, Banks had played the part of a caring woman with a one-off litter – even giving away cosy blankets with the puppies so they could feel ‘safe’.
In reality, the tiny animals were riddled with contagious diseases, kept in pens, advertised using fake images downloaded from Google and other websites – and sold for up to £600.
Buyers all described Banks’ white Mercedes, high definition eyebrows, long black hair and pouty lips.
Banks admitted offences of failing to protect more than 1,200 puppies. She was sentenced to five months in jail and ordered to pay £4,500 in costs.
In May 2016 Banks was jailed for a further nine months after it was discovered that she had continued to sell poorly puppies while awaiting sentencing for her original conviction.
King was found guilty of failing to protect 835 puppies from pain, suffering and disease. He was sentenced to five months in jail and ordered to pay £2,500 in costs
Peter Jones (30/06/1983) whose birth name was Aneirin Joseph Sculley, has used aliases George Cooper, Marco Emme and Michael Emme and is sometimes known by the nickname ‘Nye’. We understand that he may since have changed his name to Arnie Swartz. He is a former director of King’s ‘pedigree registration’ company Kennel Registration Ltd. He has a brother named Keir Sculley and his mother’s name is Diane Sculley.
Jones was found guilty of failing to protect 835 puppies from pain, suffering and disease. He was given six months in jail and ordered to pay £2,100 in costs.
All three were banned from keeping animals for life.
The RSPCA rehomed the puppies that were seized during the investigation, after providing the required treatment and care to those which were sick.
Peter Jones and Julian King were previously banned from keeping animals for 10 years following a successful RSPCA prosecution in April 2010. Jones was convicted in the name Michael Emme and King in his birth name of Alec Paul Rogers.
Julian King photographed during a previous court appearance in 2010
The charges related to six ten-week-old Staffy-type puppies that had been left to lie in their own filth, unfed and in the dark, for days on end in the middle of winter.
Only three of the starving puppies survived
Just three of the puppies survived after RSPCA inspectors found them in a freezing, pitch-black outhouse, with their ribs, spine and pelvic bones protruding from their bodies.
The pups were found on a stone floor, whimpering and huddled together to keep warm. They were extremely underweight and only had one small, dirty plastic bed between them – in the middle of November.
There was an “overwhelming smell of urine” when inspectors approached the outhouse, on Braddon Road, Woodley. The pups had worms and had been licking their matted fur in an attempt to groom themselves.
King had left the pups in the care of Jones while he went on holiday for a week, in what a vet later described as “atrocious conditions”.
Jones kept them in his outhouse, but claimed that he had only left the pups alone for 36 hours at the most while he went on holiday to Blackpool – although he admitted the conditions were “disgusting” and the remaining pups were lucky to be alive.
Magistrates heard that Jones had given the RSPCA and the courts a series of false names and addresses, and that he had also breached his bail conditions.
The pair were given a community sentence and banned from keeping animals for 10 years.
Just one year later, in January 2011 the pair were back in court having breached their disqualification order.
This followed an RSPCA raid on Nook Farm in Tyldesley, Manchester where 33 puppies in poor health were seized. The pups, which included nine Yorkshire terriers, five West Highland white terriers, five King Charles cavaliers, five labradors, seven Pomeranians and two King Charles spaniels, had intestinal disease caused by infection or parasites and some had respiratory infections.
The farm’s owner, William Hartley, had rented buildings to Jones and King. Hartley was also prosecuted for animal cruelty but ultimately cleared. The court accepted his claim that he had prepared for the puppies’ arrival by putting out food, water and heating lamps but hadn’t seen them prior to the raid.
Numerous unrelated people have contacted us to advise that Alec Rogers/Julian King has changed his name again, this time to Harry Pony. Although not listed on Companies House as a company director, Harry Pony (who may or may not be Julian King) has a senior role within Lenken Ltd t/a Smartbreeder, – a provider of training and equipment for would-be dog breeders.
CONVICTED (2016) | Tracey Tindall, born 31/08/1969, previously of Lymington Drive, Holme Wood, Bradford and more recently Birkby Haven, Buttershaw, Bradford BD6 2AG – starved cats and dogs and kept them in appalling conditions.
Tracey Tindall was jailed over cruelty to three dogs, five cats and a bearded dragon
Horrified RSPCA officers discovered the bodies of dead and decomposing pets at Tindall’s home, in what prosecutors described as one of the “most serious” cases of animal neglect they had ever seen.
A “significant number” of the animals found had died and were decomposing – while the neglect of the surviving animals led them to be in a “poor state”.
Tindall left some dead animals to decompose while others were barely alive.
Prosecuting for the RSPCA, Andrew Davidson said officers had attended Tindall’s home, where there was faeces on her windows and the path leading to her back garden and rubbish strewn throughout her home.
Mr Davidson said: “At the right hand side of the house, RSPCA Inspectors Evans and Weston found a two tier rabbit hutch.
“On the bottom tier were the bodies of two rabbits decomposing.
“They then went through a metal gate at the side of the house which led to the back garden. The path was covered in rubbish and faeces.
“In a kennel in the back garden was the body of a large Mastiff dog that was chained to the kennel by its neck.
“It was also in a state of decomposition.
“The officers then looked through the dining room window and saw a ginger cat that was in a very poor condition.”
RSPCA inspectors were “overwhelmed by the smell of decay”, with one saying she had “never seen such a horrific state of living for both animals and humans”.
The inspectors recovered a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a collie that were both in very poor bodily conditions with sunken stomachs.
Mr Davidson said: “When the inspectors went into the living room, the floor was covered in faeces. There was no water present for the animals.
“When they went into the dining room, under the table was the body of a black cat which appeared to have recently died.
“In a cage they found a bearded dragon which appeared to be lifeless and had no light or water.
“In the dining area, the inspectors saw four puppy training crates. The right hand crate had the decomposing bodies of two puppies.
“Miss Tindall said the puppies had been in the crates for a couple of weeks to stop they chewing or wrecking the place.
“In the left hand crate there was the carcass of an adult collie.”
Tindall was jailed for the “horrific” and prolonged neglect of a number of animals at her Bradford home
Mr Davidson told the court this was long-term neglect of the most serious type.
He said: “These animals suffered for a long time because of the deprivation of food and the conditions they were kept in.
“There were far too many animals to be looked after in a property of this size.”
The court heard in mitigation that Tindall had alcohol, depression and anxiety issues and was struggling to cope with her ill mother.
Tindall pleaded guilty to 11 charges of failing to meet animal needs and nine of causing unnecessary suffering and was jailed for 18 weeks. She was also banned from keeping any animals for 20 years, and told she would be unable to appeal the decision for at least five years. She later appealed unsuccessfully against the jail term.
After the case, RSPCA Inspector Rachel Evans said she had never faced such horrors in 12 years.
She said: “This was a truly disturbing and upsetting case. We found two decomposing rabbits and one decomposing emaciated Mastif type dog outside the property. This was a hint of the horrors that awaited us inside.”
Insp Evans said they found three emaciated dogs, four barely alive cats and a barely alive bearded dragon inside the property.
“We found the decomposing remains of a further eight cats and dogs and the body parts of an unknown number of cats that had been eaten by the remaining animals in a desperate attempt to stay alive.”
Insp Evans added: “Three of the bodies found in the property were of young puppies. They had been confined to a training crate in the kitchen, without access to food and water, and had been left to die. The mother to the puppies, Heidi, was one of the surviving dogs. The fact that Heidi will have watched and heard her puppies slowly and painfully pass away in a metal training crate, without being able to access them, must have caused her unimaginable heartache and stress. That thought and image will remain with me for a very long time.”
Sentence: jailed for 18 weeks for 20 offences; £300 costs and £80 surcharge. Disqualified from keeping animals for 20 years. Deprivation order on two cats and five kittens still in her possession.
CONVICTED (2016) | backyard breeders Robert Allen, born 4 February 1985, of Halifax Road, Rochdale OL12 6PS and Darren Cottrell, born 18 November 1977, of Wild House Lane, Milnrow, Rochdale OL16 3TW – kept neglected dogs and puppies in atrocious conditions.
Breeder Rob Allen (left) jailed for keeping bulldog puppies in disgusting conditions while co-owner Darren Cottrell was given a suspended sentenced and ordered to carry out unpaid work. Both men are banned from keeping dogs for life.
Rob Allen was jailed for four weeks after four bulldog puppies were found at his home malnourished with no food or clean water.
The dogs were discovered when police went to the property on Peel Street to arrest Allen in connection with a separate matter in October 2015.
The malnourished puppies were found living in squalor with no access to food or water.
Anna McDonald, prosecuting, said: “When the constable went in, the smell of excrement made his eyes water as there was dog excrement all about the place and Allen did not appear well.
“In a back bedroom he found four small bulldog puppies who were malnourished and there was a malodorous smell coming from the room – there was also no food and no clean water.
“He said it was the worst conditions he had seen in his 12-year service.”
She added that the dogs had not received proper vaccinations and that two of the puppies were carrying an infectious canine disease.
Darren Cottrell pictured outside court.
Cottrell, who the court heard had been quizzed by the RSPCA in April 2015 after receiving reports concerning the welfare of some puppies, later told police he owned the bulldogs jointly with Allen, but denied breeding any other dogs.
Bill Rawstron, defending Cottrell, said: “No matter what the evidence shows, he cares very much for those dogs and he is very ashamed to be in the position which he is in.
“When he was questioned about the dogs he admitted the conditions were disgusting and that no animal should have to live like that.”
Cottrell
Mr Rawstron said Cottrell had been unaware of the conditions in which the dogs were being kept and that he had tried unsuccessfully to contact Allen for several days.
Both men pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the Animal Welfare Act.
Allen
Catherine Byrnes, the RSPCA inspector who rescued the dogs, welcomed Allen and Cottrell’s sentences.
She said: “You can see the filth the dogs were living in from the pictures – it was just disgusting.
“The smell hit us as soon as we opened the door.
“The police had put some water down for them which they said they had drunk furiously, but they were still thirsty.
“The second bedroom, where they’d clearly been living for some time before we got there, had black plastic sheeting on the floor and was absolutely covered in faeces.
“The welfare of these animals did not matter to Cottrell and Allen – they were just a way to make a lot of easy money – and I’m glad the court decided to ban them from keeping animals for life.”
Sentencing | Cottrell: 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months; 150 hours’ unpaid work; £680 costs. Banned from keeping animals for life. Allen: jailed for four weeks. Banned from keeping dogs for life.
CONVICTED (2016) | Alisha Healey, born c. 1990, most recently of Flodden Road, Ford Estate, Sunderland – left a tiny shih-tzu to suffer from a painful eye and skin condition just weeks after being violently choked
Alisha Healey. Picture: Facebook.
RSPCA prosecutor Judith Curry said the charity had first become involved with the dog, Molly, in July 2015.
“An incident had been reported, whereby Molly had been choked,” Ms Curry said. “It was a violent attack that had gone on within the home.”
Molly
On September 30, 2015, the RSPCA received a call about a dog in a ‘very poor condition’ and an inspector attended an address in Sunderland, where the tan and white pet was found.
“She had long fur and a very strong smell was coming from her,” Ms Curry said.
“She was covered in numerous small matts of fur, all over her face and the underside of her belly. She had a dry, crusty discharge coming from her eyes and her eyes were cloudy.”
The dog was taken to the vets.
“Molly had difficulty seeing where she was going and was sniffing the floor to see where she was going, due to the amount of discharge from her eyes.
“This caused a mass across the eyes, causing problems with vision. She was rubbing her face and eyes on anything, due to the itching. “
The mats were so attached to the skin it had become ulcerated. The epidermis had eroded, with sores under both eyes.
“It is the vet’s opinion that Molly was caused unnecessary suffering over a number of weeks.”
When Healey was interviewed by RSPCA inspectors, she had not taken Molly to the vets for a number of years. Molly was voluntarily signed over by Healey and went on to be rehomed after being nursed back to health.
Sentence: fined £60; banned from keeping animals for five years (expired 2021).
Source: Sunderland Echo (article removed).
Additional information
Private message received from a friend of Molly’s new to our old Facebook page ‘Pet Abuse UK’ regarding the case.
The report from the paper doesn’t tell the half of it! shocking! Molly is a lovely little dog. Shes so loving . I cant believe someone could hurt her…but my god she has been left with some serious long term damage.
She was shot with an airgun (still has the pellet in her stomach near her left rear leg), she is brain damaged because of being repeatedly choked unconscious & she has regular seizures, every time she’s startled or knocked or when the Jack Russell tried to play with her.
The foster carer said she’d been burnt as well. I cant believe this article has been so bloody vague!
She has to take regular medication for the seizures but to be honest I don’t think it makes a difference.
From what we know there was a man involved, possibly a partner of that witch you see in the article. That bloody reporter wants a kick up the arse for such shoddy work, absolute disgrace!
The punishment is a joke, absolute bloody joke, they tortured this lovely little animal, absolute disgrace!!
Alisha Healey’s partner at the time of her conviction (and possibly still) was serial criminal Ian McCabe. His extensive criminal record includes convictions for violence and dishonesty.
Healey with then partner, Ian McCabe
In March 2017 roofer McCabe pleaded guilty to assault, disorderly behaviour and causing harassment, alarm or distress following a series of terrifying attacks on women who were all strangers to him.
We collate data on animal cruelty convictions in the UK
