CONVICTED (2018) | Rebecca Chantel Wall aka Rebecca Taylor, born 30/06/1994, formerly of Canterbury Close, Ashington, then Choppington but as of May 2020 living in Cornwell Crescent, Bedlington NE22 5AP – moved out of rented accommodation, leaving behind a young puppy and kitten to starve to death.
Rebecca Wall pleaded guilty to five offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Wall had clocked up rent arrears when she decided to flee her property in Ashington, Northumberland, in 2017.
But she left behind a 10-week-old kitten, called Titus, and a 12-week-old black retriever puppy, named Athena.
Members of Northumberland County Council’s animal welfare team were called to the property on July 27, 2017, by a distressed housing officer who had entered the abandoned property and discovered the animals’ bodies.
Athena was found in a bedroom with the door closed and kitten Titus was found dead in the living room, also with the door closed. Neither had food or water.
Heartbreaking pictures taken by the inspectors inside the property showed packets of pet food, which the kitten had desperately tried to rip open, prosecutors said.
A post-mortem revealed both animals had died from starvation and dehydration, while pieces of plastic pet food wrapper were also found inside the cat’s stomach.
Both animals had been microchipped to Wall, who was at the time banned from keeping pets after a previous animal cruelty conviction from 2013, and she was traced.
Attempts were made to interview her but she failed to attend appointments, magistrates were told.
Wall also failed to turn up at her first court appearance to face two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, two of failing to ensure the welfare of an animal and one of keeping an animal while disqualified.
A warrant was issued for her arrest and, when she next appeared in the dock, she pleaded guilty to all the offences.
One of Northumberland County Council animal welfare officers involved in the case said: “This is the worst case I have been involved with. The animals had clearly been left to die of starvation and dehydration. It was a mindless act of animal cruelty.”
Sentencing: 14 week custodial sentence for each of the five charges, to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months; 15 days of rehabilitation activity with the probation service. Total of £2,222 costs and charges. Disqualified from owning and keeping animals for 10 years.
Update | May 2020
Wall is now living in Cornwell Crescent, Bedlington NE22 5AP. We are also receiving reports that she has breached her ban on keeping animals again.