CONVICTED (2016) | Tristan Asbery, born 22 September 1997, of Lymington Drive, Bradford BD4 9HA, Nathan Niland, born 3 April 1990, of Idle Road, Bradford BD2 4JU, Kaider Tariq, born 24 November 1993, of Dalby Avenue, Bradford Moor BD3 7LW, Luke Lowther, born 16 April 1990, of Farway, Holme Wood BD4 0EG, and Peter Walker, born c. 1995, of Shirley Road, Bierley BD4 9PX – laughed and celebrated as they killed four badgers by setting dogs on them.

All five members of a barbaric gang of badger baiters received a prison sentence after being prosecuted under the Protection of Badgers Act and Animal Welfare Act.

The attacks, described by the RSPCA as being at “the top-end level of cruelty”, took place on two separate dates in January 2005 in woodland near the city of York, North Yorkshire.

The men’s actions sparked an RSPCA investigation when a member of the public saw pictures of Tariq holding a dead badger on his Instagram account.

Prosecutor Andrew Davison told the court that the group had used a pack of dogs to flush the badgers out before setting the animals on them.

They then took then animals and kicked and stamped on them, also hitting them with a spade.

They filmed and took pictures of their actions. Mr Davison said that in some of the images, the men could be seen “holding up badgers as trophies.”

He added that the group had shown a “significant enjoyment of abusing and torturing badgers” by “savagely” attacking them.

“This case is about people who go to considerable lengths to seek out animals who are completely overwhelmed by them as more powerful adversaries,” he said. “This is as serious a case of animal cruelty as I have seen.”

After the RSPCA were made aware of the images on Tariq’s social media, officers teamed up with police to execute a warrant on his home.

They found two dogs being kept in a back yard filled with “faeces, urine, and rubbish”, and three cockerels suffering from a serious foot infection.

Analysis of Tariq’s phone subsequently led to the arrests of Niland and Lowther.

RSPCA officers subsequently seized a number of dogs from Niland’s then address on Sticker Lane, after finding them suffering from injury.

Graphic video footage of the two badger-baiting trips was played to the court.

One six-minute video, filmed by Peter Walker, showed four dogs dragging two badgers from a sett and fighting with them.

Walker was heard to say one of the badgers was “still putting up a fight” and “ten minutes and it’s still alive”.

RSPCA inspector Danielle Grimshaw, who was involved in the investigation, said: “All the time you can hear the badgers screaming.

“They hit the badgers with spades, hold them down while they’re being mauled, and kick them like footballs.

“You can hear them saying things like ‘Don’t like getting bit these dogs do they’, ‘Look at that, still putting up a fight’, ‘Stand on its neck’, and ‘Good ten minutes and it’s still alive’.

“At one point, they hold a dying badger up to the camera and pose for pictures before giving it back to the dogs.”

The court also saw separate video footage of dogs being set upon a domestic rabbit, leading to an additional charge of animal cruelty against Tariq.

Saf Salam, mitigating for Asbery and Lowther, admitted his clients’ actions had been “barbaric and abhorrent”, and said their behaviour “would haunt them for the rest of their lives.”

Kevin Walker, for Tariq, said his client had been led by peer pressure and was “unaware” his actions were illegal.

Clive Rees, for father-of-three Niland, said his client’s offending had caused the breakdown of his relationship and the loss of his job in a pet shop.

Kevin Walker for Peter Walker, a labourer, said his client suffered from ADHD as a child and did not learn to read and write. He made friends with the wrong people and claimed he did not know they were going badger baiting. He went along with it to not appear weak. He did not own a dog.

As they were taken from a rowdy courtroom, Niland and Lowther who both smelled strongly of alcohol, heckled abuse at the bench.

Niland shouted: “Paedophiles don’t get as long as we are getting.”

Lowther yelled: “You give nonces lesser sentences. Rat.”

After Walker was sentenced, he grinned as he was led to the cells.

Sentencing |
Tariq and Niland, who had admitted additional charges of animal cruelty alongside the badger-related offences, were both jailed for 24 weeks.

Asbery was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail, and Lowther to 12 weeks.

Walker, who was found guilty after a trial and not sentenced until October 2016, was given a 26-week prison term.

All five were given lifetime bans from owning dogs, with Tariq banned from owning any animal.

Mirror
Telegraph & Argus 23 June 2016
Telegraph & Argus 7 October 2016