CONVICTED (2022) | Kenneth George Thomas, born 20 April 1964, and Denise Kimberley Warner, born 21 June 1973, of 2 Hazel Terrace, Perthcelyn, Mountain Ash CF45 3HJ – for cruelty to their two dogs found starving in the garden of their home.
Denise Warner (pictured) and partner Kenneth Thomas only received a financial penalty and 5-year ban on keeping dogs despite their sickening neglect of Sheba (top) and Vinnie, who were found starving and shivering in the pair’s garden.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to Staffies Sheba and Vinnie by failing to provide sufficient nutrition for their needs.
In a witness statement, RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said she attended Hazel Terrace on 8 December 2021 and could see the two dogs in the back garden. They had no shelter and were shivering.
Inspector Cooper spoke with the defendants and explained that the dogs were in very poor body condition and that they needed to go to the vets.
Thomas and Warner agreed to transfer the ownership of Sheba to the RSPCA but did not give permission to move Vinnie.
Inspector Cooper said: “As I walked back down to the rear of the garden, Sheba was still outside all hunched up, although they had let Vinnie inside out of the cold.
“When she did walk she appeared weak and had little muscle coverage over her back end. I could see every rib and every vertebrae along her spine.
“I placed a lead over Sheba and she refused to walk so I bent down to pick her up. As I carried her to the van I could feel her still shivering and as I placed her in my van I provided her with a hot water bottle which she immediately curled up around.”
Sheba was taken to a vet who said she was suffering due to lack of food – there was no food in her stomach and had no muscle.
Inspector Cooper later returned to Hazel Terrace with police, with officers seizing Vinnie.
Vinnie was examined by a veterinary surgeon who stated that he was very underweight but had slightly more muscle mass to him than Sheba. He also had a skin condition probably caused by parasites.
Both dogs were taken to RSPCA’s clinic in Merthyr Tydfil where they were given parasite treatment.
Ownership of Vinnie has been transferred to the RSPCA, who will now rehome him. Sheba has already been successfully rehomed.
Sentencing | ordered to pay a total of £634 each. Disqualified from keeping dogs for five years (expires April 2027).
#MostEvil | former soldier Joshua James Norman, born 4 May 1996, of Lowless Close, Pembroke SA71 5QL – attacked his pet dog with a knife and a blunt object.
Former paratrooper Josh Norman stabbed Simba with a kitchen knife and beat him with a blunt object.
Norman stabbed chocolate Labrador Simba in the neck with a large knife before repeatedly beating him to the head and body with a heavy object. The dog was found cowering, whimpering and bleeding heavily in the bathroom of Norman’s flat.
The court heard that on March 5, 2022, Norman was in contact with an ex-partner by phone, and told her he was going to take his own life.
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said the woman was concerned about what was going on and so went to the Pembroke Dock flat where Norman was temporarily living. The court heard the ex-partner described the flat as “looking like a bomb had hit it” with clothes and other objects strew around, windows smashed and curtains pulled down, dog faeces and patches of urine on the floors, and blood smeared on the walls.
The woman found Simba lying on the bathroom flat in a pool of blood and in a distressed state, with an open wound in the shoulder and neck area. The ex-partner subsequently contacted the police who attended the flat and arrested the defendant. In the flat officers found a knife with a 13 cm blade which was covered in blood and black hair, a hammer, and a small quantity of cannabis.
Simba was taken to the vet where, due to the seriousness of his injuries, he had to be sedated. An examination of the dog found a 10cm-deep wound in the shoulder and neck area along with extensive bruising and swelling around the eyes, and multiple traumatic blunt force injuries to the head and body. The dog is now in the care of an animal charity.
In a subsequent interview Norman said he had drunk a litre of vodka, half a bottle of gin, and cans of lager and did not know what he had done – though he denied hitting the dog with a hammer The court heard he refused to look at pictures of the injuries inflicted on the animal.
Simba made a remarkable recovery in the care of Greenacres Rescue and has now been adopted.
Norman pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, criminal damage, and possession of cannabis.
Dyfed Thomas, for Norman, said the defendant had served in the Army – on his client’s instructions with 2 Para – though his service “did not end well” as he failed a drugs test, went absent without leave, and was then discharged. He said Norman had been experiencing mental health difficulties including post-traumatic stress disorder, and had been abusing alcohol and controlled drugs but was now, in his client’s own words, the “cleanest” he had been in the last two-and-a-half years. The barrister acknowledged the attack on the dog had been “awful and nasty” but said the context of it was the defendant’s mental health and drink and drug issues.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Norman he had committed a “gratuitous and cowardly attack on a defenceless animal”, and said any sentence other than one of immediate custody would not be appropriate.
Sentencing | 10 months in prison comprising 10 months for the animal offence, one month for the criminal damage, and one month for the drug matter all to run concurrently. Five-year ban on owning a domestic animal (expires April 2027).
CONVICTED (2022) | badger baiter Wayne Mortimer, born 18 December 1974, of 47 Nant-Y-Fedw, Mountain Ash CF45 4LS – failed to take his two seriously injured dogs to the vet.
Mortimer’s Patterdale terriers were found with multiple scarring to their heads and necks and were said by a vet to have suffered unnecessarily for at least three days because of his failure to seek treatment for them. The most severely wounded terrier, Jack, was missing 75 percent of the skin and tissue from his lower jaw.
RSPCA inspector Simon Evans, accompanied by police officers, visited Mortimer’s home on 25 November 2021 following welfare concerns for the dogs.
They found five Patterdale terriers and a lurcher puppy living in purpose-built steel kennels in a shed in the garden, with one of the dogs visibly injured.
In his evidence to the court, Inspector Evans said: “I saw a small, black, Patterdale type terrier with a white patch on its chest. This terrier appeared to have an injury to its lower jaw and the wound looked to be yellow with pus.
“I looked inside and examined the injured dog more closely. The wound was extensive, covering the whole area beneath the dog’s chin reaching down to the throat.
“It had been completely stripped of skin and hair and was red raw and covered in sawdust shavings, making it look yellow. One of the other Patterdale terriers also had an injury to its lower lip and this too looked raw.”
Both dogs were seized by police and taken immediately for veterinary treatment by the RSPCA.
In her statement, the examining vet said Jack was missing “a significant amount of skin and subcutaneous tissue from the mandible, which resulted in no normal tissue present for approximately 75 percent of the lower jaw”.
The root of the terrier’s left canine was exposed and there were also wounds to his nasal septum and multiple small lacerations to his upper lips, cranium and eyes.
The other terrier, Race, had an unhealed wound on his left ear, a laceration on his chin and bilateral conjunctivitis.
Both dogs had healed scars on the head and neck in multiple areas and additional scrapes and wounds which were only a few days old.
When Mortimer was interviewed by Inspector Evans on 6 December he told the officer the injuries had been caused by the dogs fighting. He said he’d treated the wounds himself using disinfectant and antibiotics purchased off the internet but had been too frightened to take them to a vet as he was worried he might be suspected of using them to bait badgers.
He also told the inspector that the injury to Race had occurred about 12 months earlier following another fight with Jack, and the historic scarring to the dog’s face was as a result of bolting foxes on land controlled by a gamekeeper friend.
Chip off the old block. Wayne Mortimer with daughter Jessica Mortimer, who shares her father’s taste for animal cruelty.
A second independent veterinary expert who provided evidence in the case, said he believed the injuries were likely to have been caused by the powerful bite of a badger, which would have held the terriers in a “vice-like grip.”
He said: “The chin injuries sustained by the dogs are not consistent with having been caused by fighting with each other when taking into account the severity of the facial tissue damage and tissue loss.
“It is highly likely that these injuries were caused as a consequence of them fighting with a badger.”
Both vets agreed that Jack and Race had been suffering due to Mortimer’s failure to seek veterinary care.
Mortimer pleaded guilty to three animal welfare offences when he appeared following a prosecution by the RSPCA.
Jack and Race are doing well in RSPCA care and the charity is looking for new homes for them. The other dogs seen at Mortimer’s property have since been rehomed.
Sentencing | 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. 40 hours of unpaid work; a total of £528 in costs and charges. Banned from keeping dogs for ten years but may appeal after five years.
CONVICTED (2022) | Dave Herring, born c. 1968, of Manor Road, Sudbury CO10 1PB – kicked a hedgehog with ‘considerable force’
Herring admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the hedgehog, by kicking the animal.
The incident was caught on camera and the footage was passed on to the RSPCA to investigate.
The video showed a man walking towards a house and putting something down in the porch area. He was then seen pulling the hedgehog from the porch area with his foot, and kicking it down the road.
In mitigation, the court heard the defendant was of previous good character, that he’d had a heart attack within the last year and had been under stress.
They said it was a one off incident and he had initially thought the hedgehog was a rat.
Speaking after the case RSPCA Inspector Caroline Richardson, said: “Having reviewed video footage it was clear the hedgehog was kicked with considerable force.
“The final kick can clearly be heard on the camera footage.
“The hedgehog rolls at speed several metres, out of sight.
“An expert vet who examined the footage said the hedgehog would have suffered unnecessarily during this time and the suffering would have extended beyond the time of the kicking if an injury was caused.
“They believed the suffering caused was due to pain and fear.
“This was an incident which showed a clear disregard for a wild animal.”
Sentencing | fined £277 and ordered to pay £300 costs and a victim surcharge of £34.
CONVICTED (2022) | Claire Anderson, born c. 1988, of Hazelwood Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 4NA – blew cannabis smoke up her pet dog’s nose to impress her jailbird boyfriend.
Claire Anderson
The court heard that Anderson had been speaking to her partner James Millington, who had called her from prison at 11pm on November 26, 2020. Anderson was smoking a cannabis joint at the time of the phone call, which was recorded.
The court heard that Anderson’s dog, called Benji, could be heard in the background of the call. Millington told Anderson: “Put your hand around his nose, put the joint in your mouth and blow.”
Benji
After confirming to Millington that she had followed his instructions, the dog could be heard ‘making quite a loud groan’ in the recording of the call, the prosecutor told the court. She added: “Mr Millington asked ‘did it go up his nose’. The defendant laughed and said ‘I think so’. She offered to do it again.”
Having heard Benji starting to cough, Millington asked Anderson if the noise was coming from the dog. Anderson replied: “Yeah that’s him. He hates smoking. You know what it’s like when I’m smoking, he starts sneezing.”
James Millington
Before the phone call ended, Millington spoke to Anderson about making Benji ingest cannabis again once he had been released from prison.
A veterinarian’s report read in court stated that dogs can fall over and ‘become unsteady’ from ingesting cannabis, while their pupils dilate similar to humans’.
The court heard Anderson had four previous criminal convictions, with the most recent coming earlier in 2022 for her part in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into HMP Doncaster, which also involves Millington, 31, of HMP Leeds.
Earlier in April 2022, Anderson was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for being concerned in the supply of Class B and C drugs into prison between 2017 and 2020, conspiring to supply Class B drugs into prison and conspiring to convey List B articles into prison.
Anderson was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal following a trial. She appeared at Stockport Magistrates Court via video link from New Hall prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Sentencing | four-week prison sentence to run concurrently with her existing jail term; ordered to pay a total of £428 in costs and charges. Disqualified from owning or keeping an animal for 10 years.
CONVICTED (2022) | Stephen Osman Agar, born c. 1967, previously of Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and more recently Broad Lane, Kirkby – stabbed his neighbour’s black Labrador because he didn’t like him barking.
Agar was jailed for 26 weeks for his cruel attack on the dog, known as Sully, on November 6, 2021. The court heard Agar had complained to his neighbour on previous occasions about the noise Sully made when he barked. That day the woman said Agar had been banging on the ceiling to his flat.
At 5.55pm, Sully’s owner went to take her dog to meet a friend. As she approached the front door of the flats, Agar came out, saying: “What’s all the f***ing noise?” He began making jabbing motions towards Sully, who started yelping and trying to get away, the magistrates heard.
“I could see a large blade, about four or five inches – it looked like a large kitchen knife”, Sully’s owner said.
The woman’s friend, who she was going to meet, said she could hear a dog “screaming in pain”. She opened the door to the flats and saw her friend, who was calling the police and saying her dog had been stabbed.
Sully was taken to the vets where his wound was stitched. He was kept in overnight but made a full recovery.
Agar pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. He said he had a long history of noise problems at the property and had tried many avenues to address it, including contacting the housing association in Skelmersdale where they lived.
He said he was ashamed of what he had done and called the police himself to report the incident. Magistrates accepted he was suffering with mental health issues but said: “This was a deliberate attempt to cause suffering to an animal.
“A weapon was used against the dog and we believe there would be distress caused to the owner. We believe there is a danger to the public and the nature of the offence is so serious only an immediate sentence of custody is appropriate.”
Sentencing: jailed for 26 weeks. Disqualified from owning animals for five years.
CONVICTED (2022) | Kate Powell, aka Kate Burgess, born 22 December 1971, of Lower Hill Street, Blaenavon and ex husband David Powell, born 17 April 1967, of James Street, Blaenavon – for cruelty to an elderly shih-tzu who had to be immediately put to sleep.
Kate and David Powell failed to get the necessary veterinary care for their 14-year-old shih tzu, named Alfie, who was unable to move due to his conditions.
The elderly pet was suffering corneal ulceration, skin disease, anal tumours and skin wounds. He was also anaemic.
In a witness statement, RSPCA inspector David Milborrow told how when he arrived at James Street on September 7, 2021, he met with Mrs Powell who said she had heard that Alfie was not in a good way.
She said that the dog, along with her other dog Marley, were living with Mr Powell and she had not been to the house or seen the dogs in a year.
Inspector Milborrow found that Marley – a brindle Staffordshire bull terrier cross – appeared to be healthy, but little Alfie was lying flat on his side on a dog bed at the end of the sofa.
Inspector Milborrow said: “The dog had significant fur loss on his legs, head and flanks. The fur that he did have would have been pale or white if it were clean, however it was filthy, wet and matted.
“The patches of skin that I could see were red and sore looking with small open and pussy wounds. His legs were twitching slightly but he did not appear able to move or even lift his head.”
The inspector told Mrs Powell that Alfie had to go to a vet immediately and she gave permission for it to happen. He said she was “extremely upset and crying uncontrollably.”
After the vet examined the dog, it was found that nothing could be done with the vet recommending Alfie be put to sleep immediately to prevent further suffering – to which Mrs Powell agreed.
The vet wrote in a witness statement: “In my opinion, there has been significant neglect over a long period of time, both in overall condition and care of the dog, but also disregard for more serious illness which needed urgent attention.”
Marley was taken into RSPCA care to be rehomed.
Both defendants admitted causing unnecessary suffering to Alfie between July 6 and September 8, 2021. Kate Powell was sentenced in March 2022 and David Powell in April 2022.
Sentencing | Kate Powell: ordered to pay a total of £800. Banned from keeping dogs for five years (expires April 2027). David Powell: 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months; 90 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £378 . Seven-year ban on keeping dogs (expires April 2029).
CONVICTED (2022) | backyard dog and cat breeder Steph Neesam, born 5 September 1988, of Horsham Grove, North Shields NE29 7RX – left a bullmastiff to suffer for months with poor health.
Neesam pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to her dog called Viper. The bullmastiff had been left without veterinary care for a tumour on her left elbow, a skin condition, and weight loss.
When RSPCA Inspector Kirsty Keogh-Laws visited Neesam as part of her investigation she found Viper had thickened patches of skin on her back, tail and paw which was hot to touch and caused her irritation as she was scratching at them. Viper also had a flea infestation which Neesam said she had attempted to treat by using alternative products bought on the internet.
Greeder Neesam breeds bullmastiffs as well as Persian cats.
During the course of an interview, Neesam claimed the way that she was treating Viper was the way the dog would have been treated by a vet. She admitted that she had not sought any veterinary advice or treatment.
Inspector Keough-Laws took Viper to a vet to be examined who concluded Viper’s tumour would have been present for at least a month and the chronicity of her skin lesion indicated she had been suffering for a number of months. Viper underwent an operation to remove the tumour on her leg and has been recovering at the RSPCA’s Felledge Animal centre.
She will soon be looking for her forever home.
Sentencing | 12-month community order to include 180 hours unpaid work; £395 costs and charges. Five-year ban on keeping dogs (expires April 2027).
CONVICTED (2022) | Pauline Wilson, born 3 July 1976, of 19 Woodcross Avenue, Cantley, Doncaster DN4 6RU – kept two emaciated dogs in dog crates; neglected a third dog.
Two of Wilson’s dogs – a 12-year-old lurcher called Angel and an eight-year-old Akita named Roxy – were found in a poor condition living in dog crates in the kitchen at her home.
They were so underweight their ribs, skull and pelvic bones were visible.
Pauline Wilson left her dogs to get so thin their bones could be seen.
A third dog, a Jack Russell terrier called Dave, was also not being looked after properly and, while not in as bad a condition, his ribs were visible.
The court heard that after a complaint from a member of the public, RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer (ARO) Liz Braidley visited Wilson’s home on September 2, 2021, but she was not allowed to see the animals.
In a statement the ARO said: “Mrs Wilson was quite frustrated I was there advising she was ‘sick of being reported’.
“I asked if I could see the animals, she said no.
“I asked why, and she admitted that Angel was very underweight and she thought she needed putting to sleep and that she would arrange to take her.
“She told me she believed this was because she was pining after another dog she had that had died around a year ago.”
The animal rescue officer stated she discovered the condition of the dogs when she returned to the property the next day (September 3) and that she took them away for a veterinary examination.
Angel weighed just 14.3kg and had a weeping cut to her cheek and her claws were overgrown.
Roxy weighed 17.3kg and was also suffering from overgrown claws and a chronic eye condition.
In her statement she said she’d asked the defendant if she could take the Jack Russell, but “she refused stating ‘you won’t bring him back’ and that he was only that weight because he is always humping the Akita and she would arrange to take him to her own vet.”
RSPCA Inspector Kim Greaves attended at the Sheffield-based veterinary practice and she said of Angel in her statement: “This dog had every bone visible, she was able to walk around unaided but appeared quite weak.”
Of Roxy, the inspector stated: “She had a thick coat of hair covering her, unlike Angel. However, you could quite easily see she was also thin and her ribs were showing.”
Inspector Greaves said she removed the Jack Russell from Wilson’s home on the vet’s advice.
The vet’s report stated all three dogs were “markedly underweight” and that the conditions of Angel and Roxy met the criteria of emaciation. It stated that all three pets significantly increased their bodyweight and body condition scores after a month under RSPCA care.
“Such findings show that the suffering all three dogs experienced through malnutrition was avoidable and unnecessary if their keeper had provided their basic need of a nutritious diet to maintain healthy body weights,” stated the vet, in his report.
Prosecuting for the RSPCA, Phil Brown, highlighted the discrepancies between the defendant’s account of how she thought Angel should be put to sleep because she could not keep weight to how Angel and the other dogs had gained weight substantially when they were taken out of her care.
Hannah Edison,who was mitigating for Wilson, said that the defendant had endured a difficult period in her life.
Her home was hit by flooding and a close relative was also having health concerns
Wilson pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to three dogs, contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 on or before September 3, 2021.
Speaking after the hearing, RSPCA Inspector Greaves said: “This was a horrific case as the dogs were in a really bad condition. The owner had a total disregard for them.
“She could have asked for our help and advice, but she was blase as to why the dogs were so thin. Within a short period of time with the RSPCA they returned to their normal weights.
“Now all the dogs have been rehomed successfully and are doing really well. Angel and Roxy have stayed together and Dave has a new home of his own.
“This prosecution followed a member of the public reporting a concern and it is always worth letting the RSPCA know if you do see an underweight dog.”
The court also made a seizure order on three cats that were found living at Wilson’s property and they are to be rehomed.
Sentencing | 12-week prison sentence, suspended for two years; 20 rehabilitation activity days; a total of £556 in costs and charges. Disqualified from keeping all animals for life.
CONVICTED (2022) | Vince Shelton aka Vince Dzongera, born 29 May 1989, of Birchfield Road East, Abington, Northampton NN3 2BZ – banned from keeping animals after a puppy was found with an unexplained leg fracture.
Zimbabwean national Shelton was found guilty of two animal welfare offences following a trial in his absence. The lout caused unnecessary suffering and failed to meet the welfare needs of a male Cane Corso puppy named Arturo.
The RSPCA were contacted after the puppy was diagnosed with a fracture on his tibia. Shelton failed to return to the vet with the puppy for further treatment – despite follow up calls.
RSPCA Inspector Helen Smith attended a location with the police in March 2021 and the puppy was seized by the police. Arturo was alert and responsive but was not fully weight bearing on his hind leg and had no dressing on his injury.
A vet who examined the puppy said in their professional opinion the failure to seek further veterinary care caused Arturo unnecessary pain and suffering.
Speaking after the case Inspector Smith said: “The defendant had failed to protect Arturo from pain, injury and suffering due to him not following appropriate veterinary advice for the fracture of the left tibia.
“As a result of the lack of treatment, the vet reported that the dewclaw on the left hand appeared to have discharge from it and it was damaged and coming away from the leg at the base.
“As a pet owner, we all have a responsibility to protect our pets and to get veterinary treatment if they are suffering – as in this incident poor Arturo would have suffered as a result of such a serious injury.”
Arturo and also a second puppy Vanya were signed over to RSPCA care. Arturo has been in the care of the RSPCA with a foster carer and has since made a full recovery.
Sentencing: ordered to pay a total of £650 in fines, costs and charges. Disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years.
