On 7 November 2018 a BBC Watchdog investigation exposed unscrupulous and deceitful cat greeder Lizzie Beth Scarrott (born 4 November 1986 and also known as Becky Dawson, Beth Riley, Bethany Scarrott and Bethany Plumley). In the previous six months alone Scarrott had sold at least five kittens that had either died or been put down because of illness.

Mother-of-four Scarrott uses a variety of trading names and aliases on selling sites like Gumtree, Pets4Homes and Freeads to sell ‘designer’ kittens  for hundreds of pounds to unsuspecting buyers.

As well as breeding kittens herself, Scarrott acts as a ‘middleman’ for kitten farms, which operate along the same lines as the  cruel, exploitative puppy farms we all know and loathe.

She is a known pet peddler, that is she buys kittens advertised on the likes of Gumtree to sell on at a profit. She is said to take her children along to sellers’ houses to give the impression that she is buying a family pet.

She’s also rather fond of money and brags about her wealth on social media.

The Watchdog team first highlighted the heartbreaking case of a couple named Jim and Tracey who had paid Scarrott £400 for a British shorthair cross kitten they had named Betty.  The couple had responded to an ad Scarrott placed on Facebook in which she claimed to be a private registered breeder. All seemed well and the couple fell in love with the sweet-faced ginger kitten.

Sadly little Betty became very poorly not long after being brought home. The couple rushed her to the vet where she was diagnosed with an incurable  condition called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) leaving them with no choice but to have her put to sleep.

Jim and Tracey then learned from a friend that another cat purchased from Scarrott had died from the same fatal illness. Jim contacted Scarrott but she denied that there was anything wrong with her cats and said that anyone claiming otherwise were “liars”.

Hardly the reaction of a caring, responsible breeder, is it?

Watchdog’s investigation into Scarrott’s activities linked her to 44 kittens advertised for sale in the last six months of which at least FIVE had either died or had had to be euthanised due to illness.

Names used by Scarrott in her online ads included Purrfect Pawss, Christian Scarrott (actually her husband’s name) and ‘Lesley’ (her mother’s name is Lesley Scarrott and it is rumoured that she sells animals on her daughter’s behalf).  When challenged, she claimed she used different names to avoid being “trolled”, presumably by animal lovers unimpressed with the money-grubbing exploitation of immoral backyard breeders like her.

Scarrott was also shown to be lying about her credentials as a breeder. She claimed she had something called “RSPCA certified status” (there is no such thing) and fibbed that she was registered with pedigree cat registry GCCF (they have no record of any her litters being registered with them).  Even her pet shop licence was invalid, being registered to her previous address.

Watchdog’s undercover investigators then purchased a kitten from Scarrott.  Ambrosius (later known as Custard) was clearly unwell from the outset but Scarrott, who was being secretly filmed, denied this and, unbelievably, advised the investigators NOT to take him to the vet.

She agreed to sell Custard to the investigators without his vaccinations with little persuasion, but made them sign a disclaimer to “protect” herself:

Watchdog’s vet found Custard to be in very poor physical condition (“skin and bone”) with pus coming out of his nose. He was struggling to breathe and was clearly suffering from a bad case of cat flu. Too sick to be vaccinated, Custard was vulnerable to picking up other illnesses. Sadly this is what happened and he didn’t survive.

On being contacted by Watchdog presenter Matt Allwright,  Scarrott’s reaction was one of fury and denial. You can read her full response to the allegations against her here.

Regardless of Scarrott’s claims of a BBC stitch-up, Watchdog’s exposé showed her up for what she is: an unscrupulous money-driven liar who doesn’t think twice about duping prospective customers, while leaving a trail of sick and dead kittens behind her.

Lizzie Scarrott has now had the shame (assuming she’s capable of that emotion) of being exposed on national television, but people do forget. Let’s keep reminding them about her and her like and work together to put these traders in animal misery out of business once and for all.

Newslink: Gloucestershire Live

So what happened after Watchdog?

Despite her exposure on national television followed by a vigorous social media campaign and even an article on her cruel antics in That’s Life magazine, brazen Scarrott has continued to sell kittens. It is alleged that around 30 of those kittens fell ill and died.

In April 2021 a reliable source who has tailed Scarrott for years told us this:

Many people have reported having sick kittens from her. She delivers them, or threatens people who complain. She deliberately gets their addresses to do that. Uses her kids in the scams too.

She’s into selling spyhnx kittens at the moment at £1500 – £2500. Not seen anything about her ragdolls recently.

She also has a Doberman with docked ears (thought to have been supplied by another Polish friend…possibly Iza Bella? But Scarrott sold a Doberman puppy recently too for £2500 using her mother’s name on the selling sites (Lesley Scarrott). It’s believed her dog was the stud, and she kept the pup as payment.

Connection to a convicted kitten farmer

In April 2021 a Coventry-based kitten farm operator named Monika Listos was imprisoned for 20 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life after her exploitative cruelty was exposed.

Listos and her partner Arek ‘Adam’ Palka are known associates of Lizzie and Chris Scarrott. Their respective social media accounts are littered with affectionate greetings to each other as well as photographs of them all together.

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Additional Information

As of early 2021 Lizzie appears to have changed her name legally to Becky Dawson and now has a bank account in this name.

Her last known address (early 2021) was in Mickle Mead, Highnam
Gloucester. Prior to this she was in the Longhope area. As of April 2021 she may be living on a travellers site but this is unconfirmed.

Scarrott is married to Chris Scarrott. His real name is actually Christian Plumley. A thug with a criminal record, he has two known convictions for domestic violence: one involving his own mother and the other his then partner/mother of two of his children.

The pair made the national papers in February 2015 after Scarrott was convicted of harassing Plumley. The Daily Mail reported that “love rat” Plumley was having an affair with two other women, which Lizzie – pregnant with his child – was none too pleased about.

Scarrott and one of the women decided to confront the hapless philanderer but things turned nasty and she found herself facing a harassment charge. She was convicted and fined by which time she and Plumley had reconciled.

Scarrott has sisters named Charlotte Denley and Nicola Gregory. Allegedly the pair have sold kittens on Gumtree on her behalf in the past. Gregory is also close friends with kitten farmer Monika Listos.

Known Facebook profiles:

https://www.facebook.com/lizzie.scarrott.3
https://www.facebook.com/beth.riley.792
https://www.facebook.com/dean.bosscott

Lizzie’s Only Fans profile: https://onlyfans.com/adayint28651078

Petition to RSPCA urging them to take action against Lizzie Scarrott: https://www.change.org/p/rspca-stop-lizzie-scarrott-from-breeding-and-selling-sick-kittens-now

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UKACF Facebook page post of 17 April 2021 (removed for breaching community standards on “bullying”).

#GreedersUnmasked #TheMonstersAmongUs Some cold hard facts about notorious kitten breeder and pet peddler Lizzie Scarrott, aka Becky Dawson (with numerous other aliases), most recently of #Highnam in Gloucestershire. Despite being exposed as a greedy animal-abusing parasite on BBC’s Watchdog in 2018, Scarrott has not changed her ways one bit.

• Scarrott has bred kittens continuously in the two-and-a-half years since the programme. Many of those kittens have fallen ill and at least 30 are known to have died.
• Scarrott is a pet peddler. She buys kittens advertised on the likes of Scumtree to sell on at a profit. She even takes her four children along to sellers’ houses to give the impression that she is buying a family pet.
• She plies her shoddy trade all over the country.
• She is best friends with kitten farmer Monika Listos from #Coventry who was recently jailed for doing what Scarrott has been doing for years. The pair even go on holiday together with their families . Bottom right picture shows them together.
• Scarrott has a Doberman with cropped ears. She has also started selling puppies alongside kittens.
• Scarrott’s bank account is in the name of Becky Dawson and we believe she has changed her name legally to this. She still has social media accounts (at least two) in her original name, however.
• She has family members including her mother and sisters sell animals on her behalf and from their own homes.
• Having moved out of the property in Highnam Scarrott is apparently living on a travellers site elsewhere in Gloucestershire.
• All of this begs the question: why the hell hasn’t she been properly investigated, prosecuted and convicted? That’s not just addressed to the RSPCA who are stretched to breaking point, but also Gloucestershire Trading Standards whose approach has been woeful. Aside from abusing animals, she is ripping people off.

As ever, be aware and vigilant. Oh and share the hell out of this please. Remember that she drives across the country buying and selling animals so it’s not just an issue local to Gloucestershire.