CONVICTED (2024) | backyard breeder Jodie Leanne Blezard, born 11 September 1987, of Gladstone View, Siddal, Halifax HX3 9DH – failed to keep her dogs under control with one attacking a woman to her severe injury.
The victim had called to visit Jodie Blezard at her home in Halifax when she was “viciously attacked” by a Staffy crossbreed named Cally, causing blood to pour out of her neck.
As she was dragged to the floor she banged her head and was knocked unconscious.
Her wounds were so severe that they exposed her windpipe and required surgery.
The result was described at Bradford Crown Court as “significant cosmetic disfigurement” that left her voice impaired and her throat susceptible to infection.
Cally, who had recently had a litter of 11 pups, was removed along with Blezard’s other dogs. Callie was destroyed a month later.
Single mother-of-six Blezard pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog following the incident at her home on November 10, 2022.
The court heard that she had four dogs, three of whom were in the kitchen on the day of the incident, but that Cally was allowed into the living room.
The attack happened when the victim, who had been outside briefly, came back into the house and a baby gate became dislodged.
Mrs Recorder Taryn Turner said: “Very unfortunately, and in circumstances that will remain unclear, Cally attacked [the victim].”
Blezard had not seen the attack and, in an interview with police, said her animals were not dangerous. However she was “immediately remorseful” and apologised to the victim.
The court heard that Blezard had been spoken to in the past by various authorities about other dogs in her control, but that Cally had not been one of those animals.
Recorder Turner said: “You have a lot of children to look after, and it seems to me that if I were to impose an immediately effective custodial sentence today that would deprive them of their mother.
“You are truly apologetic and full of remorse for what befell [the victim] on that day when she popped in with a friend just for a chat.
“There is every reason to hope that something like this will never happen again because you don’t intend to keep dogs again.”
Sentencing | 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years plus 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. Banned from keeping dogs for life.
CONVICTED (2024) | Del Alan Midgley, born c. 1969, of Robin Hood Street, Castleford WF10 4AX – used his dog as a weapon, leading to the dog being destroyed.
Del Midgley, who has 48 previous convictions for 164 offences, including robbery, ABH and affray, lured a man to his home to attack him with a baseball bat, then goaded his dog into attacking him.
Midgley then allowed the Staffy to attack a police officer when they turned up to arrest him. He also racially abused officers and tried to bite them himself.
He admitted a raft of offences including GBH and allowing a dangerous dog to be out of control. The unnamed dog was ordered to be put down.
The incident took place on June 30, 2023, after Midgley swung a baseball bat at the man, who then tried to grab the weapon.
The man was able to get out of the home and into the street, followed by Midgley who continued to hit him. His dog was with him, and when Midgley relented, the dog pounced and mauled the man for around 40 seconds. The man suffered a broken rib and a punctured lung from the bat attack, and lacerations to his skull and ears from the dog.
After the police were called, they found Midgley in an irate state and he tried to shut the door on the officers, but they were able to force their way inside. The court was told that Midgley allowed the dog to intimidate the officers who had to withdraw, but not before he jumped at one officer and sank his teeth into her arm with such ferocity it left the muscle exposed.
Midgley was Tasered and brought under control, but after claiming he had a heart condition, the officers took him to hospital. However, he continued to struggle and be abusive. He racially abused two officers who had to restrain him when he tried to bite them. Finally, he urinated in the police van.
Held on remand since his arrest, he admitted section 20 GBH, two counts of being a a person with a dangerous dog that caused serious injury and two of racially-aggravated harassment.
An order was made to have the dog put down and Midgley was given a 17-year ban from keeping animals.
Mitigating, Chloe Hudson said that Midgley did not object to the dog being euthanised.
She said that on the day of the attack, Midgley had been drinking heavily and in relation to the dog, she added: “It was clearly very loyal and he [Midgley] should have intervened. He is beginning to realise that offending of this type will just end up in further custodial sentences.
She said of the relationship with the victim: “There’s a long history of knowing one another and there’s not always been a mutual liking, but it does not excuse what went on, it should not have happened.” Miss Hudson said Midgley was having drug counselling in prison and was enrolling in courses to better himself.
The judge, Recorder Marco Giuliani, jailed him for 45 months, and activated an additional two months of a suspended sentences he was on at the time for a driving matter.
Sentencing | 47-month custodial for non-animal welfare offences. Destruction order for the dog which Midgley didn’t object to. Banned from keeping animals for 17 years.
CONVICTED (2024) | Yassar Hussain, born May 1986, of 46 Aldred Street, Rotherham S65 2AL – left a Belgian Shepard in pain with multiple untreated injuries.
The two-year-old dog, named Deli, had extensive scratches and bites on all four limbs and infected wounds on her front legs. These had been present for several days. She had also reportedly birthed a litter of puppies just days before, who all sadly died.
Deli’s owner, Yassar ‘Yass’ Hussain, sole director of vehicle recovery firm S60 Recovery and Transportation Ltd, admitted one offence contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 at a hearing in December, 2023.
The court heard how Hussain had taken the injured dog to a PDSA clinic in Sheffield on June 30, 2022. The examining vet subsequently contacted the RSPCA over concerns for her welfare.
In a written statement, RSPCA Deputy Chief Inspector Sara Jordan said Deli was “in lean body condition” when she saw her five days later. She noted “extensive wounds on both front legs – notably a large open wound on her right foreleg and an open, draining abscess to the armpit region of her left foreleg”.
DCI Jordan added: “She was on pain relief and antibiotics and had a lot of criss-cross scratches and bite wounds to all limbs.”
Speaking to DCI Jordan on the same day, Hussain said four days before he took Deli to the vet, she was jumping up at him and playing. He said she then gave birth at a property on Sheridan Drive, Rotherham on 28 June 2023 and it was at that point he noticed a wound on her right foreleg.
The PDSA vet said in a written court statement: “On examination she was underweight with milk expressible from all nipples. From the size of the nipples I would suspect this was not the first litter of puppies.
“The fur coat was matted with purulent material and other dark matter over the entire body. She was clearly uncomfortable on both forelimbs despite having pain relief overnight.
“The left forelimb was very swollen and purulent material was dripping down it. Several wounds were visible over all four limbs, not all fresh. The largest wound was present on the centre of the right forelimb near the elbow, which couldn’t be fully assessed conscious.
“I believe Deli was caused unnecessary pain and suffering by not having these wounds treated earlier, for this degree of swelling and purulent material these particular wounds had been present for several days most likely. All limbs, once clipped, showed wounds which appeared to be even older than the deep wounds present on the forelimbs.”
In mitigation the court heard that Hussain had since rehomed another dog he owned and it was to his credit that he did eventually recognise, albeit very late, that Deli needed veterinary intervention.
Deli, who was signed over to the RSPCA by Hussain during the course of the investigation, was cared for at the charity’s Hull & East Riding Branch animal centre. She made a full recovery and has since been happily rehomed.
Sentencing | 18-month community order, with 120 hours of unpaid work and up to 15 rehabilitation activity days; costs of £750. Banned from keeping a dog for 10 years.
CONVICTED (2023) | Kevin Griffiths, born 15 November 1979, of of Frondeg Terrace, Llanelli SA14 1PZ – allowed an XL bully he kept cooped up in the bathroom to attack his partner.
Griffiths ignored advice from police to have the XL bully called Reggie put down after the dog previously bit his partner. Instead he kept him shut in the bathroom of his flat until the dog attacked the woman again to her severe injury.
Caitlyn Brazel, prosecuting, said in May 2023 Griffiths was about to take Reggie for a walk. His partner, who was afraid of the dog after the previous attack, went to the bedroom.
A destruction order was issued for XL bully Reggie
The court was told Griffiths got the dog and then asked to be let into the bedroom – banging on the door repeatedly. This “wound up” the dog who was said to be going “berserk”.
Griffiths opened the door and Reggie attacked the woman immediately, biting her face and arms. He managed to get the dog back into the bathroom and police were called. On arrival, officers found the woman crying in the car park outside the property.
The court heard the casualty was taken to hospital by her father and subsequently had to undergo plastic surgery to repair the damage to her face.
In court, Griffiths pleaded guilty to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control which caused injury.
Sending Griffiths to prison for 20 months, the judge told him that dog owners have a duty to ensure their animals are under proper control and are safe.
He said the defendant had “been in charge of what was, effectively, a dangerous weapon” when he allowed it to attack the woman.
CONVICTED (2023) | Marie Emmett aka Marie Harrison, born 14 March 1987, and Chris Lancaster, born 7 September 1992, of Kit Hill Crescent, Barne Barton, St Budeaux, Plymouth PL5 1EW – starved and neglected a young American bulldog and allowed him to kill a puppy.
The cruel negligence of Marie Emmett and Chris Lancaster led to the deaths of two young dogs.
On December 21, 2022, police arrived at the the home of Marie Emmett and Chris Lancaster to find their two-year-old American bulldog, Bane, tied up outside the house. Officers were called after Bane had reportedly killed another dog – a four month old puppy named Lilo – within their home.
Chris Lancaster posted this photo to Facebook in July 2021. It’s known if the dog pictured is Bane.
Bane was in an extremely underweight and dirty state, with overgrown claws, indicating that he had not been walked properly.
In a witness statement, one police officer said: “It looked like he had been kept in the kitchen. It smelt strongly of urine and small scratch marks from his claws could be seen all over the floors and walls. It appears the dog was possibly confined in this location. The rear yard was unkempt and covered in dog faeces.”
Bane was taken to a vet who found he was suffering severe dehydration, was smelly, with sticky fur and covered in urine. His feet and paw pads were covered with scalded areas and sores with areas of non-healing necrotic tissue.
Convicted animal abuser Marie Emmett, a mother of four who also goes by the name Marie Harrison
The vet said Bane was emaciated with visible bones, no body fat and a loss of muscle mass. He weighed less than half the weight he should have been – at around 20 kg when he should have been 40-60 kg.
At the request of police, Bane was put to sleep and a post mortem found that he had rubber flooring in his stomach.
The vet report stated: “This dog had no access to food and was clearly eating what it could to survive using its basic survival instinct. This, and the lack of fat deposits throughout the entire body system, suggests this dog had been starved for a long time and supports my professional opinion that this dog was suffering and had been for a while.
Sentencing | both received a 12-week suspended prison sentence;40 hours of unpaid work; 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days; costs of £200 each. Ten-year disqualification order, which can be appealed after five years.
CONVICTED (2023) | backyard breeder and alleged dog fighter Kevin Turner, born 16 June 1985, previously of Collingwood Road in North Shields but now of 47 Coach Road, Wallsend NE28 6JA – failed to take a seriously injured bulldog to the vet after she fought with another dog.
Worthless: Drug dealer, backyard breeder, (alleged) dog fighter and traveller Kevin Turner was jailed for failing to take his dog to the vet after she was bitten by another dog
Turner, a traveller who runs a rubbish clearance business called Fast Waste North East, left the two-year-old dog, Babe, to suffer with extensive injuries to her head, neck and legs. Her wounds became infected leaving her in great pain.
RSPCA inspectors paid a visit to Turner’s former home at Collingwood Road in North Shields on April 13, 2023, and found Babe with a large open wound on the right-hand side of her ear, neck and face where the skin was hanging loose. As well as the injuries to her face, neck and legs, Babe was also suffering from sore skin on her stomach and the pads of her feet.
The RSPCA said Turner claimed he was registered with the PDSA and had been planning to take the dog to see the charity’s vets the following day. But when the inspector checked the PDSA had no record of him.
Following an RSPCA prosecution convicted heroin dealer Turnerpleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the bulldog by failing to seek veterinary care, as well as a charge of failing to ensure the dog’s needs were met.
The court heard a statement from the vet that said Babe may have lost her ear if she didn’t have surgery.
In mitigation, the court was told that Turner had kept dogs for many years without any issues.
Babe’s damaged ear was reconstructed during surgery and she has since made a remarkable recovery. She was discharged to kennels the day after the operation and her wounds and skin infections then healed over several weeks. She remains in RSPCA care and will be rehomed soon.
Animal abuser Kevin Turner owns a waste management business
After sentencing, RSPCA inspector Terri-Ann Fannon said: “Babe’s injuries were among some of the worst I’ve seen from a dog attack and the infection she suffered was horrendous. But she has done so well at RSPCA Felledge Animal Centre, where she has made some new doggy friends.
“She was a bit anxious and nervous at first, but has turned out to be a lovely boisterous girl. She was so depressed when I first met her, but she’s like a different dog now, full of mischief and wanting treats and attention.”
Sentencing | jailed for 10 weeks; £360 costs plus £154 victim surcharge. 10-year ban on keeping all animals.
CONVICTED (2023) | Leon C Wilks, born c. 1981, of Dyce Close, Snape Wood, Bulwell, Nottingham NG6 7GD – allowed his three dogs to attack a cocker spaniel, causing catastrophic fatal injuries.
Wilks pleaded guilty to three counts of being in charge of a dangerously out-of-control dog.
The three dogs were off their leads in Snape Wood Nature Reserve, near Bulwell, when they saw another dog on a walk with his owner on March 3, 2023.
The two Staffordshire crossbreeds and an XL Bully set upon the smaller cocker spaniel, who had to be put to sleep after suffering “catastrophic injuries”.
Following an investigation, Wilks was identified as the owner of the dogs and all three animals were seized.
He appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on September 15, 2023, where a contingent destruction order was imposed on each dog.
One of Leon Wilks’ three dogs, who now face destruction unless their owner complies with strict conditions
All three must now wear a muzzle when outside and must be kept on a lead held by someone aged over 16 when they are taken on walks.
Any of the dogs seen to be breaching the court order will be seized and put down.
PC Conor Bullivant said: “This was a deeply distressing incident that left a dog with horrible injuries and resulted in its owners having to make the difficult decision to put their beloved pet to sleep to end its suffering.
“We hope that the order issued by the court helps provide the community with some reassurance going forward and sends out a strong reminder to all dog owners of their responsibilities to ensure the safety of other people and their animals.”
Sentencing | contingent destruction order on Wilks’ three dogs; £900 in compensation and fines
CONVICTED (2023) | Emily Mace, born c. 2000, of Little Barton, Kingsteignton, Newton Abbot TQ12 3QS – trained a dog to become aggressive leading to savage attacks on other dogs.
Emily Mace’s large Mastiff-type Conan attacked other dogs – one fatally – and also bit a woman after her extreme training methods led to him becoming aggressive.
The first incident happened in August 2021 when Janet Collins was walking her miniature schnauzer Lola in Long Barton playing fields. Mace was throwing a ball for Conan, an Alsatian/Mastiff cross and a third dog called Honcho.
As Miss Collins walked by, Conan bit Lola on the rear. She picked her dog up to keep her safe but Conan continued to jump up and bit the woman on the arm, puncturing the skin and causing significant bruising. She also suffered injuries to her hand.
Mace left the scene without showing much interest – telling Miss Collins to stand still during the incident – and was arrested later by police.
She told them her dogs made her feel safe.
The victim said in a statement she had never been so terrified in her life by the incident and could not believe Mace’s cold and uncaring attitude at the scene. She said it was clear her dog was dangerous and could cause serious damage.
A few months later, Mace agreed to re-home a greyhound named Blake but when she put the animal in with Conan and her other dog they went into ‘prey mode’ and fatally injured him.
Conan was under a dog behaviour order and required to be tethered in the garden. But Mace had placed a ‘totally inadequate’ loose collar around the animal.
She ignored a warning that Blake was unhappy in the larger dog’s presence and put them together, along with another pet, a Staffordshire-type dog named Luna.
“Luna and Conan began to savage Blake,” said RSPCA prosecutor Ms Susan Cavander. The attack was captured on video by a neighbour.
The two dogs went into ‘prey mode’, holding the greyhound down, locking their jaws and ripping at his throat, said the prosecutor.
Mace pulled the bleeding greyhound away and put him in a shed while she called vets.
The prosecutor said she seemed more intent in clearing up the mess than paying attention to the dog that was bleeding profusely and losing consciousness.
Blake lost a litre of blood and had to be put down by vets.
Mace posted videos on Facebook of her aggressive training techniques.
The court heard that she demonstrated a ‘total lack of understanding of the risk’ her pets posed or how to train them properly.
Mace pleaded guilty to having a dog dangerously out of control that caused injury.
She was convicted after trial of a separate offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a greyhound by failing to prevent him being attacked by other dogs.
Mace, who is pregnant, has since left her address and job as a result of online abuse. She was described in references as an animal lover and a kind person who is keen to work with probation. A pre-sentence report said she had shown superficial remorse.
Judge Anna Richardson said Mace had trained her dogs to be aggressive and could and should have intervened at the scene of the first ‘utterly terrifying’ incident.
An application for the destruction of Conan was to be considered at a later date but the outcome isn’t known.
Sentencing | 22-month custodial suspended for two years; 20 days of rehabilitation activity. £500 compensation. .Banned from keeping dogs for 15 years.
CONVICTED (2023) | Jade O’Brien, born c. 1987, of Ack Lane, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport – left an XL bully in agony with untreated wounds to her ears.
Jade O’Brien told an RSPCA inspector she likes the crop-eared look on dogs
Jade O’Brien’s six-month-old XL bully-type breed called Babyface had stitch wounds that became infected after undergoing an ear cropping procedure, which is illegal in the UK.
O’Brien said the procedure had been carried out abroad but admitted she did not take the dog to a vet for treatment.
O’Brien’s puppy was left with untreated infected stitch wounds from ear cropping
The RSPCA first became involved when Inspector Beth Fazakerley went to a vets in Accrington, Lancashire, on September 1, 2021 to examine two dogs who had been seized by police as part of an investigation under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
One of them was Babyface who had ‘prominent scars’ from stitches after recently having her ears cropped. A staff member confirmed that when the dog arrived at the kennels two weeks before, she was suffering with open wounds to both ears.
In a witness statement Inspector Fazakerley said: “You could clearly see multiple horizontal scars and I was told that when she was seized she still had sutures that were cutting into her skin due to how inflamed and infected her ears were.”
O’Brien later told Inspector Fazakerley that the dog had been imported from the US and that she was bought with her ears already cropped.
“She informed me that she bought Babyface from America as she buys her dogs from there and she said she likes the cropped-eared look,” the inspector said. “She said she’d only had Babyface a few days and she’d bought her with her ears already cropped.”
“I asked if the dog had seen a vet and she said she didn’t want to take her as she knew she would get in trouble. But she’d asked her gardener, who breeds dogs, for help and he provided her with some antibiotics.”
O’Brien said she had administered one dose of antibiotics before the dog was seized from her home along with another female bully breed.
After being seized, Babyface was taken to a vet to have her stitches removed and she was treated with painkillers and antibiotics.
An expert vet said the wounds on each of the dog’s ear pinnas appeared to be less than a week old and were ‘severely infected’ with a ‘pus-like discharge.’
They concluded that Babyface would have been in pain for at least five days as she had not received any pain-killing medication.
O’Brien pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.
Another defendant has pleaded guilty to an animal welfare offence and will be sentenced at a later date, the RSPCA said.
History of violence: O’Brien is pictured during a court appearance in 2013 where she faced charges of assault
O’Brien, who has a 2013 conviction for assaulting a lollipop lady, claimed in mitigation she had ‘been influenced’ and ‘has health issues’.
Babyface was taken into the care of the RSPCA’s Southport, Ormskirk and District Branch who will now find her a new home.
Speaking after the case, inspector Fazakerley said: “Ear cropping is all about image and owners who do this to their dogs or take on ownership when this procedure has already been done don’t seem to realise the repercussions for the animals in terms of how it affects their behaviour or the dreadful pain they go through.”
Sentencing | 18 month community order with 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days; £495 in costs and victim surcharge. Deprivation orders on Babyface and the other bully breed dog. Three-year ban on keeping any canines (expires March 2026).
O’Brien has now been sentenced to four months in prison after an XL Bully she was in charge of mauled a dog owner and killed another dog in two horrifying attacks just two weeks apart.
Narla will be destroyed after her owner allowed her to be dangerously out of control, resulting in her killing another dog and biting a woman in two separate incidents
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how a woman was walking her one-year-old spaniel with her two children in July 2021 when she spotted a large grey dog running down O’Brien’s driveway. O’Brien was looking after Narla for her ex-partner when the attacks took place.
The woman worried by the XL Bully grabbed her spaniel but then the dog attacked her instead. She was forced back into a hedge and was bitten with serious injuries to her arms and legs while she was left with marks that were visible six months afterwards.
In a second attack just two weeks later, the XL Bully went for a small white dog that was being walked near O’Brien’s home. The teenage girl who was walking the animal ran away as she thought Narla was going to attack her but instead she went for her dog.
Sadly the white dog had to be put down by a vet after being badly bitten and having flesh ripped from her hind legs.
O’Brien pleaded guilty to two charges of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and one charge of using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour.
Jonathan Condor, defending, told Manchester Magistrates’ Court that the XL Bully belonged to her former partner who was on remand in prison for allegedly assaulting her.
He claimed that the defendant was the victim of domestic abuse and had suffered a stroke but still accepted her responsibility for the attacks.
Mr Condor said that O’Brien was a “dog lover” and was upset by the attack on the teenager’s pet. She was also said to be “strongly opposed” to Narla being put down. He argued that O’Brien needed to “settle down and get a clean start”.
District judge Thomas Mitchell said he took O’Brien’s circumstances into consideration and that they had “to some extent been imposed upon” her by the ex-partner and that she was not the best person to be looking after the dog. But he jailed O’Brien for four months saying it was a serious case that required immediate custody.
O’Brien was also banned from owning a dog for five years, given a £154 victim surcharge and a destruction order was also made for the XL Bully Narla.
ACQUITTED (2018) | notorious fox hunter and likely badger baiter Neil Frederick Pinkerton, born 19 March 1988, of 26 Clandeboye Street, Belfast BT5 4QT – cleared of cruelty offences related to animal fighting
Sadistic Neil Pinkerton posted graphic images and video of his terrier dog, known as Judy, engaged in a savage fight with a fox, to the private Facebook group North Coast Lurchers on the Beam.
In the clip, the fox can be seen locked muzzle to muzzle with Judy after the pair were dug out from the wild animal’s underground den.
Pinkerton was charged after a member of the public contacted an anti-hunting group, which then passed on the information to police.
The father-of-two was accused of two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and fox both on December 28, 2016.
He faced a third charge of causing the terrier unnecessary suffering by failing to treat or get her “adequate’’ veterinary treatment on January 25, 2017, the date she was seized by police at his home.
But he walked out of Belfast Crown Court after his one-day trial was brought to an end when Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland directed the jury to acquit him.
Stupid or corrupt? Judge David McFarland acquitted Pinkerton on all charges despite being presented with video evidence of horrific animal cruelty. McFarland is now a High Court judge.
Judge McFarland told the jury the fox clearly had the dog by the muzzle and “no suffering was caused to the fox’’.
He also said evidence from a vet who examined Judy after she was seized stated she would have been “in discomfort”, but added the pair were only attached for a short period of time.
The decision sparked outrage from anti-hunting groups, including the League Against Cruel Sports NI. Further shock was caused in April 2018 when it was announced that Judy was to be returned to Pinkerton.
Janice Watts, senior public affairs officer for the League Against Cruel Sports NI, told local newspaper Sunday Life: “We are appalled and sickened that Judy is being returned to Pinkerton given how she suffered at his hands.
“The pictures of Judy’s horrific injuries speak for themselves, yet our justice system is allowing her to go back to Pinkerton.
“The League Against Cruel Sports and PSNI worked very hard to ensure that the person behind this awful brutality was appropriately punished.
“We would like to thank the PSNI for their hard work and assistance throughout this case.”
Sunday Life previously reported how bloodthirsty Pinkerton relished getting his dogs to kill foxes in a closed Facebook group.
He wrote in the North Coast Lurchers Under the Beam page: “Fantastic hunt today, dug (a) lovely fox for wee bitch…big f* killed the thing in (the) hole, crushed its head. Fs. Lol.”
In another exchange seen by Sunday Life, he boasted to a fellow member: “That lurcher killing them but to kill and draw, fs!”.
Pinkerton also shared a graphic video of one hunt and sickening images of both the dead fox and the savaged, bleeding dog, captioned: “One’s going to feel this in the morning, one’s not”.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where hunting with dogs is still legal.
In December 2021 a private members bill to ban all hunting with dogs in Northern Ireland was defeated with MLA Jonathan Buckley arguing that an outright ban would amount to a suppression of a dog’s “basic and natural instinct”.
Northern Irish newspaper the Sunday Life reported that Pinkerton had dodged cruelty charges despite a raft of evidence gathered by the USPCA, League Against Cruelty Sports and Naturewatch.
Photographs, video footage and extracts from private chat groups were gathered in the hope of building a prosecution against Pinkerton.
PSNI raided his small terraced house where they seized 12 dogs kept in cages in the front garden and kitchen.
Unbelievably Belfast City Council declined to bring charges against Pinkerton, and his dogs – some of which had sustained fighting injuries – were returned to him. Pinkerton allegedly live-streamed the return of the dogs on Facebook.
The Sunday Life described Pinkerton as ranking “among the more senior hunters in Northern Ireland despite his relatively young age”.
In July 2018 Pinkerton agreed to give up five of the 10 dogs he owned after they were found housed in a derelict shop in east Belfast by animal welfare officers from Belfast City Council.
Update | October 2022
On 4 October 2022 BBC Northern Ireland broadcast ‘Spotlight – Hunting with Dogs’ which featured Pinkerton.
Investigators showed some of the evidence they had gathered from Pinkerton’s social media accounts – one in his own name and another in the name ‘Harry John Digging’. This included posts on shadowy online groups containing coded language for badgers (e.g. “pigs”, “black and white”, “humbug” “Newcastle”, “Geordies”) which are protected in Northern Ireland as they are in the rest of the UK.
Pinkerton had posted photographs of various dogs with distinctive facial injuries (significant loss of tissue, jaws bitten off) which were more consistent with badger baiting than fox hunting.
Update | March 2024
Pinkerton received a suspended prison sentence after his dog bit an 11-year-old boy on the leg..
Pinkerton, still of 26 Clandeboye Street in Belfast, was ordered to pay legal and court costs and compensation, as well as the suspended sentence.
The prosecution was taken by Belfast City Council andPinkerton was convicted under Article 29(2) of The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983.
He received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year and was required to pay £150 legal and court costs and compensation order totalling £250 to the victim.
It was also ordered the dog be destroyed unless kept confined in a building, shed, yard or other enclosure from which he/she cannot escape, fitted with a muzzle sufficient to prevent the dog biting any person and kept under control.
