CONVICTED (2011) | dog-fighter Derek Clark, born 29/04/1980, most recent known address Woodside Cottage, Ashgill, Larkhall ML9 3BW – kept horribly maimed fighting dogs in secret kennels
Self-styled ‘hardman’ Derek Clark was exposed during a long-running Scottish SPCA probe into dog-fighting rings across Scotland. In August 2010 the charity discovered three badly injured pitbull terriers being kept in squalid conditions in secret kennels at Clark’s isolated cottage. A fourth one was seized in February 2011. One of the dogs had lost a leg.
Clark pleaded guilty to possessing three banned pitbulls and failing to provide sufficient care for his animals. His not guilty plea to the dog-fighting charge was accepted by the court after his lawyer, Diarmid Bruce, struck a deal.
Bruce told the court: “It is not accepted that he was involved in fighting dogs.
“There were a number of dogs examined and some were considered to be fine.
“He had them for seven years and they were his pets and guard dogs.”
The court fined Clark just £450 and failed to disqualify him from keeping animals.
Speaking after sentencing, Mike Flynn for the Scottish SPCA said: “We’re very disappointed that Clark has not been banned from keeping animals.
“It is not only illegal to keep pit bulls but also extremely irresponsible.”
Update December 2012
Derek Clark was jailed for 15 years for the attempted murder of a 76-year-old grandmother, Mary Coulter.
Clark was armed with a large knife when he and two equally thuggish sidekicks banged on Mrs Coulter’s door looking for her son, Ronnie. The OAP left her bed and went downstairs, where she saw the trio looking into her house. Mrs Coulter pleaded that she was “just an old woman on her own”, but the men, who wore balaclavas, burst in.
The trio then went through the rooms looking for Ronnie Coulter. The pensioner was then subjected to a brutal assault during which she suffered two broken arms, a fractured skull and deep slash wounds. Clark and his accomplices left the OAP for dead but Mrs Coulter managed to call for help. Whilst Mrs Coulter recovered from her physical injuries, she was so traumatised by the attack that she had to give up her home to move in with her daughter.
One positive outcome is that this piece of human crap is now serving a long prison sentence and we can be certain his dog-fighting activities have been brought to an end for now.
What a weasel