CONVICTED (2011) | Eric Buckley (born c. 1955) and wife Doreen (now deceased) of Tower Street, Pontypridd CF37 1NR – kept 9 geese, 2 goats, a cat, 11 former racing greyhounds and a pony in the basement of a former pub
Serial animal abuser Eric Buckley of Pontypridd, South Wales. Doreen Buckley died in 2015.
The Buckleys admitted chronic neglect of two dozen animals kept in a squalid cellar at their three-storey home.
The pair had already been banned from keeping dogs for 10 years due to animal welfare breaches in 1993.
After more series breaches in 1995 both were banned from keeping all animals for life.
Then in 2011 they were caught keeping a cat, 11 retired racing greyhounds, nine geese, a pony and two goats in a former pub in High Street, Gilfach Goch, Rhondda Valley.
Shocked RSPCA officials found the couple’s “stinking” home to be infested with animal faeces.
At one point up to 13 greyhounds had the run of the rambling three-storey former pub, used by them as a toilet.
Most, however, were kept in an unlit cellar whose floor was almost an inch deep in animal waste.
A vet brought in to administer to the animals once they were located was forced to extract 34 rotting teeth from the mouth of one dog.
Four of the dogs were suffering from flea infestations, ear infections and oral disease with subsequent veterinary treatment for the animals amounting to £13,333.
RSPCA inspector Nicola Johnston said when Eric Buckley was approached about the conditions and asked why he kept so many animals, he answered: “Why not?”
The property was in such a putrid condition it was regarded as proof of breaching animal welfare rules alone.
Eric Buckley admitted all the charges against him while his wife failed to attend but had previously made full admissions of all charges through her lawyer.
Sentencing |
Eric Buckley: jailed for 12 weeks. Banned from keeping animals for life. Doreen Buckley: 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. Lifetime ban on keeping animals.
CONVICTED (2010) | internet animal trader Linda Winter (aka Linda Jayne Leaf), born c. 1969, of Wycoller Avenue, Burnley BB10 4LF – kept dogs, cats and guinea pigs in freezing and filthy conditions in a series of stables and a caravan
Linda / Lynda Winter aka Linda Leaf pictured outside court in 2010, and one of the dogs rescued from the miserable conditions in which she kept them
An investigation was launched into the activities of puppy and horse trader Linda Winter by the RSPCA after police found a variety of animals in squalid conditions at a freezing-cold farm near Lennox Street, Worsthorne.
Several dogs, cats and guinea pigs were found in caravans and a nearby stable block by officers, who were conducting a stakeout as part of an unrelated criminal operation, and the RSPCA was alerted.
The conditions in the caravan were said to be filthy and often the animals had not been given adequate food or water despite the temperature barely being above zero degrees centigrade.
Two rabbits and a guinea pig, left in cages by Winter at the Lennox Street paddock, were found to be dead by police.
2019 social media photo of Linda Winter
Vet Peter O’Hagen was called in to examine the animals and they were removed at the RSPCA’s request.
RSPCA inspector Jason Bowles and Mr O’Hagen also made a video of the caravan and stables noting that, at the time, New Year’s Day, the temperature was zero degrees centigrade.
Mr Bowles told the court said there was a strong smell of urine in the dirty caravan and he could see no food or water left for a Rottweiler puppy and a small Border terrier he found inside.
He then moved to a stable block, where he found the dead rabbits and guinea pig, and a cage containing three cats, which had apparently been left with dry food but no water. The litter tray was full and the cats were sitting in their own filth.
The next stable inspected had three dogs, two Bedlington terriers and a small black spaniel, the court heard.
Mr Bowles said no water had been left for the dogs. The terriers’ coats were matted and the spaniel’s was ‘dirty’.
Finally two Sharpei dogs, with bad skin conditions, were discovered in a third stable.
These dogs had been left water but it had frozen because of the conditions.
Winter, who advertises puppies for sale on the internet, was questioned by PC Mark Jenkinson when she arrived at the scene.
She was alleged to have told PC Jenkinson that the animals at the compound were hers and she was looking after them “because no-one else would”.
Winter was questioned about the discovery and later charged with 18 offences of failing to provide adequate care and diets for 13 animals found by the authorities.
She denied the charges during a two-day trial but was convicted of all the offences.
In her defence, Winter said her car had been impounded and she was unable to attend to care for the animals daily. Her daughter and a family friend had been given the responsibility instead and had not done a good job.
Magistrates banned Winter from keeping dogs and all other animals for six years and to pay costs to the RSPCA of £260.
The court heard that the disqualification may prove difficult to enforce as his client’s 17-year-old daughter had pets of her own.
But the bench told Winter she must make provisions to ensure she complied with the ban or face further court action.
The trial was told that Winter’s details had been found on various trading websites, advertising puppies and ponies for sale.
Following the case RSPCA inspector Jason Bowles, who investigated Winter, said: “She left these animals to live in freezing and squalid conditions and some suffered and others died as a result.
“She was caught out though as the result of a joint operation between the RSPCA and Burnley Police.
“I would like to make a plea to people to be aware when you are buying an animal, without researching its history properly, then you could be funding misery for more animals in future.”
Sentencing: costs of £260. Six-year ban on keeping animals (expired 2016).
CONVICTED (2007) | animal hoarder Lee Howard, born 12 August 1966, of Shinwell Crescent, Middlesbrough TS6 6LJ – let nearly 30 animals die of thirst and starvation at a County Durham stables.
Lee Howard was charged after the RSPCA discovered animal remains at Bank Top Stables in Trimdon, County Durham, in May 2005.
Magistrates heard that 13 horses and ponies, 11 hens, four dogs, and a rabbit died of dehydration and starvation over a period of several weeks after being locked up at the stables. Three dogs survived by eating the remains of the dead animals.
In March 2006 Howard was sentenced to six months in jail and banned from keeping animals for the rest of his life.
Just a few months later Howard was back in court after it was discovered he was keeping 11 dogs and 16 birds at a house in Delarden Road, Pallister Park, Middlesbrough.
The animals were kept in squalid conditions, with the dogs running around in piles of faeces and pools of urine. Six of them had problems with their paws and one had an ear infection.
Howard was given a further six-month jail term for breaching his ban.
Sentencing: two custodial terms and a lifetime ban on keeping animals.
Lee Howard, who has used the name Lee Howard-Smith, was handed a suspended prison sentence after being caught breaching his ban. Several animals and birds were found living in squalor at his home. Howard, who since his original convictions has gone on to obtain multiple training certificates in animal care, was also working as a paid pet-sitter. He was caught out after a customer found his name and photograph on an animal cruelty website.
His address at the time of conviction was Scott Road, Kettering, North Northamptonshire.
CONVICTED (2005) | Rosalind Gregson, born c. 1950, originally from Silverdale, Carnforth and as of 2018 living at 1 Laister Court, Bare Lane, Morecambe LA4 6LJ – kept 271 animals in her home in appalling conditions
In an extreme case of animal hoarding Rosalind Gregson, now of Laister Court in Morecambe, kept over 270 animals at her home
Gregson originally faced 69 cruelty charges after RSPCA officers discovered 246 dogs, 16 birds, five cats, two kittens, a rabbit and a chinchilla when they raided her detached cottage in September 2003.
She admitted nine charges of causing unnecessary suffering to two Yorkshire terriers, three Shih Tzus, a Bichon Frise, an Old English sheepdog, and two Lhasa Apsos. Five of them had to be put to sleep to end their suffering.
A district judge at Preston magistrates’ court heard that when the RSPCA team raided Gregson’s £500,000 detached house at Silverdale, near Carnforth, Lancs, they were initially “overwhelmed” by the stench of ammonia and faeces. They found the animals living in virtually unlit, rat-infested rooms with little water and food. Most of the water they did have was contaminated with cat litter.
District judge Peter Ward was shown an RSPCA video which showed officers viewing the “dismal and depressing conditions”. The camera pans from cage to cage, showing dogs barely able to sit up. One RSPCA officer is heard to say: “How can they live in this? This is appalling.”
Some of the dogs are lifted out of their cages and held up in view of the camera. One, a Maltese terrier, is shown with her fur matted with what appears to be excrement. An officer says: “She’s in a terrible state.”
Another, a Shih-tzu, has matted fur and appears emaciated. Its weakness and reluctance to stand is attributed by a vet to the muscle wasting in its hind legs. The animal was later put down.
An emaciated Yorkshire terrier had a discharge coming from both eyes. Few of its teeth remained, its nails were overgrown and it had a severe skin infection. It, too, had to be put down.
Tim Bergin, prosecuting, said: “It is not the prosecution case that she maliciously caused cruelty to the animals in her home; simply that she allowed her obsession to collect animals to overwhelm her.”
Gregson initially denied 49 counts of failing to provide the animals with necessary care and attention but later changed her plea and admitted nine counts of causing them unreasonable suffering.
Gregson’s lawyer told the court her client’s obsessive animal collecting began when her son died from a drug overdose 15 years earlier. She said: “This is wholly about a tragic set of circumstances. It’s about sadness, it’s about isolation, it’s about the loss of a child, it’s about despair, it’s about obsession. The list just goes on and on.”
Asked why there were so many animals in the house, Gregson told police: “Because it got out of hand, its just an obsession, I couldn’t stop.”
RSPCA Inspector Sarah Hayland said the scene she found was beyond belief.
“It’s a normal looking property from the outside — and then to be faced with the room full of dogs.
“And we had no idea how many animals were in there, right until the second day when we’d been in all the rooms.
“It’s just the enormity of it, the amount of animals involved is something that I’ve never come across before and hope never to again”.
Sentencing: Jailed for three months – later altered to a three year Community Rehabilitation Order. Disqualified from keeping animals for life.
