CONVICTED (2023) | Johnathan Leighton Phillips, born c. 1969, and Laura Louise Pittman, born 1971, of Brynhyfryd Terrace, Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf CF43 4LA – for the mistreatment of a marmoset monkey found screaming and unable to walk at their home.
Jonathan Phillips and Laura Pittman were banned from keeping pets for 10 years after their pet marmoset was found ‘screaming’. Photo: Laura Pittman, Facebook
The RSPCA took the white-faced marmoset, known as Precious, to the vet where it was discovered she had severe metabolic bone disease. Tragically, nothing could be done to help her and she was put to sleep.
In court, her owners Jonathan Phillips and Laura Pittman admitted two charges under the Animal Welfare Act.
The couple did no research about how to care for Precious before buying her.
They fed her the wrong food and the space at their home was inadequate for a marmoset.
The white-faced marmoset – commonly known as a Geoffroy’s marmoset monkey – was put to sleep on veterinary advice to prevent further suffering
When Gemma Cooper, deputy chief inspector for the RSPCA, was called to the home she saw Precious “screaming and rolling around in a chaotic and unpredictable manner and unable to walk”.
The RSPCA said Precious was given no vitamin supplements or UV light which maintain bone health
A written vet report said Precious was “dragging herself” and was “unable to climb or leap”.
A radiograph revealed the monkey had severe metabolic bone disease – a disease which develops when an animal becomes deficient in calcium and/or vitamin D3.
Precious was thought to have been fed yoghurt, fresh and dried fruit and mealworms when she needed “live insects, fresh fruit and vegetables and gum arabic”.
The court also heard the monkey was kept alone despite her species having complex social needs.
Following sentencing, Ms Cooper said it was a “really sad story of a people buying an exotic animal on a whim and not knowing how to meet their needs”.
Dr Ros Clubb, the RSPCA’s head of wildlife, said marmosets were “wild animals that do not belong in people’s homes”.
Sentencing | 12-month community order with 10 -day rehabilitation activity requirement. Fined £350 each and ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge; a total of £1,931.92 costs. Banned from owning animals for 10 years (expires November 2033).
CONVICTED (2022) | pet shop owner Joseph Paul Ghessen, born December 1980, of 144-146 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RR – kept a horribly abused marmoset monkey in a tiny cage.
Joseph Ghessen, who runs Cally Pets in Caledonian Road, Islington, has been banned from owning primates indefinitely after his depressed monkey escaped from a tiny cage in a London flat and showed signs of horrible abuse.
Ghessen was investigated by the RSPCA after the female marmoset named Nicky escaped his London flat in Notting Hill.
In June 2019 an animal welfare inspector found little Nicky in a sorry state showing upsetting signs of abuse including hair loss, bruising and rickets.
The depressed marmoset fell from Ghessen’s flat where she had been caged alone since her companion horrifically died in a fire. Previous reports said that Ghessen had owned five marmosets at one time and it’s not clear what happened to the others.
RSPCA Inspector Callum Isitt, who found Nicky, said: “I soon identified her owner as he had reported that his pet marmoset was missing.
“When I visited his home, I could see that Nicky was living in unacceptable conditions. Primates are intelligent, sentient and highly social animals with complex needs. But Nicky had been kept in a cage that was too small.”
The rickets was caused by the lack of ultra violet lighting, which is important for the bone health of monkeys.
Mr Isitt said Ghessen provided Nicky with very little environmental enrichment or mental stimulation.
In March 2021 Ghessen was found guilty of not meeting the needs of his pet marmoset and was disqualified from keeping a pet for 10 years, as well as being handed a £250 fine and was made to pay £1,200 costs.
However, on February 11, 2022 Ghessen appeared in court again to appeal against this sentence. But rather than reduce the terms of his sentence, a judge at Southwark Crown Court decided to increase his ban on keeping primates from 10 years to an indefinite period of time, and ordered that Ghessen pay a further £300 towards prosecution costs.
Nicky has since been re-homed to a specialist facility where she is living a happier life.
Mr Issit said: “It was clear Nicky’s needs just weren’t being met. She will now live out the rest of her natural life at a specialist primate boarding facility in a suitable environment where she will be able to socialise with other members of her species.”
Sentencing: ordered to pay £1,450 in fines and costs. Originally banned from keeping animals for 10 years but the ban on keeping primates was extended to indefinite after Ghessen appealed.
#MostEvil | Vicki Holland, born c. 1983, of Wordsworth Road, Newport NP19 8HU – subjected her pet monkey to months of sadistic abuse.
Sadistic Vicki Holland terrorised monkey Milly over several months.
Mother-of-four Holland admitted three offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in relation to a marmoset monkey named Milly.
The court was also told Holland failed to provide a suitable environment for Milly and did not feed her a suitable diet.
Marmosets are native to tropical areas of South America, and when kept in this country their owners must meet the animals’ “very particular set of needs”, Aled Watkins, prosecuting, said.
But he said Holland did not meet these needs – she provided no UVB lighting for the monkey, her cage was “devoid of decor needed for environmental enrichment”, and she fed her “inappropriate food” including processed ham, kebabs and burgers.
The tiny monkey was tortured by her evil owner.
Milly’s abuse came to light after Gwent Police raided Holland’s property on drugs charges. Officers seized items including the defendant’s mobile phone, and while investigating the device they found 22 “very disturbing” videos involving the marmoset.
Holland lied to police she had sold the marmoset a week earlier but Milly was found and signed over to the RSPCA. She was then transferred to specialist primate experts at Monkey World in Dorset for ongoing care.
Three of the videos found on Holland’s phone were shown to the court, including one showing the marmoset in a “very distressed state”, cowering inside a toilet bowl. Holland could be heard on the video saying “I need the toilet” and “shall I flush it?”
The toilet was then flushed, and Holland called the animal a “fucking twat”.
Another video heard Holland offering Milly some bagged cocaine, saying: “Want some coke? Lick my fingers.”
A third video showed Holland’s pet dog in close proximity to the monkey. Mr Watkins said there was other evidence of the dog chasing the marmoset, which had “free rein” of the house in a “dangerous environment” around knives and electrical outlets.
Mr Watkins said Holland had “shown total disregard to the basic care and needs” of her pet.
“This is deliberate infliction, this isn’t neglect,” he told magistrates.
In May 2021, Holland and partner Russell Cox, 43, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply after £1,600 of cocaine was found hidden inside Kinder eggs in her home.
Cox, of Cwmbran, was jailed for 30 months and Holland got a suspended 20-month term.
Team Leader of Small Monkeys, who rehabilitated the abused pet, Steph Sawyer, said: “Rehabilitating Milly has been a long process. I have never seen such a terrified marmoset.
“Milly cringed away and hid from every person she encountered, any loud noise or sudden movement would sent her into a screaming alarm call and looking for somewhere to hide.
“She wouldn’t move or eat in front of us to begin with; only freeze and hide.
“Even now that she is settled and happy with a male, the sight of new people can still cause her to panic. The mental scarring from her abuse will always be with her.”
Abused marmoset Milly is recovering well in the care of Monkey World in Dorset.
Dr Alison Cronin, director of Monkey World, said: “Milly’s case was tragic and heart breaking.
“She spent her life living in fear and was subjected to abuse and cruelty that is the worst that I have seen in more than 30 years of rescuing primates.
“Milly will never fully recover from her abuse and will be psychologically damaged for the rest of her life but the key to saving Milly was companionship of her own kind.
“With Moon at her side, she has been able to relax and enjoy her life, finally.”
RSPCA inspector and exotics officer Sophie Daniels added: “I was immediately and gravely concerned about the welfare of this marmoset when I saw these disturbing videos.
“Videos from the defendant’s phone showed Holland offering the marmoset cocaine, while another showed the clearly terrified marmoset down a toilet bowl.
“Holland was shouting, swearing, laughing and at one point in the clip, the toilet is flushed, showing the petrified animal struggling to cling onto the side of the bowl.”
“An independent vet soon confirmed that the marmoset was suffering unnecessarily as a result of the way she had been treated.”
The RSPCA has said it was “totally opposed” to the keeping of any primate as a pet, because it is so hard to meet their complex needs in a domestic environment.
Sentencing: 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months; 120 hours of unpaid work; £568 in costs. Disqualified from owning any animals indefinitely, with a minimum duration of the order of five years.
CONVICTED (2017) | notorious career criminal Zuriel Hutson, born 17/09/1995, of Highbury New Park, London N5 2LH – kept a neglected marmoset monkey in his bedroom
Zuriel Hutson from Islington, London, can now add animal cruelty to his long list of criminal convictions.
Hutson, who was jailed in April 2017 for careering down the wrong side of the M11 at 90mph following a phone snatch, was found guilty of failing to ensure the welfare of an animal he was responsible for.
The court heard he kept a baby marmoset monkey in a small bird cage in his one-bed flat in Highbury New Park.
Zuriel Hutson from Islington, London, kept an exotic monkey in a tiny bird cage in his one-bedroom flat
Police said they found the creature while searching his home in October 2016.
“A primate expert attended the address and made it clear that the environment the monkey was being kept in was not suitable,” Scotland Yard said in a statement.
“There were not correct or adequate provisions present to feed or look after the animal.”
The monkey was seized and a primate expert found she was underweight, “lacking in muscle tone” and suffering from a “dirty, ungroomed coat”.
“The marmoset was experiencing unnecessary suffering, both physically and mentally,” added police.
Det Con Ben Jefferd said: “It is obviously very cruel to keep any animal, let alone an exotic monkey, in such poor conditions without the proper training or understanding of its needs. Amy is now safe and enjoying the facilities kindly supplied at Monkey World.”
Sentencing: fined £500 and ordered to pay court costs of £650. Banned from keeping animals indefinitely.
CONVICTED (2012) | Lee Powell, born c. 1961, and partner Julie Ann Jones, born c. 1970, both of 3 Sunderland Drive, Stourbridge DY8 4LD – sold a crippled and badly-nourished monkey as a pet instead of taking him to a vet for treatment
Julie Jones and Liam Powell are banned from keeping animals for life following their callous neglect of marmoset monkey, Mikey (pictured)
Powell and Jones were convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a four-month-old marmoset, known as Mikey.
The monkey was sold for £650 but his injuries were found to be so severe he later had to be put down.
Vets said the baby marmoset had bone disease and fractures as a result of the couple’s failure to care for him properly.
Powell and Jones previously denied being aware of any problems with the animal which they sold to a woman in the car park of a fish and chip shop in June 2011.
The buyer, Sheila Lister, took the monkey to an exotic pet dealer who alerted the RSPCA to his poor condition.
Pet shop owner Jimmy Wick said as soon as he had seen Mikey he knew something was seriously wrong.
He said: “For a young monkey to have so many broken bones at different rates of healing means it’s just not one thing that’s happened to him – it was just awful to see.
“He couldn’t walk properly, he would commando-crawl.”
Mr Wick said when he had tried to introduce the marmoset to an adult female that had babies of her own, Mikey had been unable to cling on to her because of his many injuries.
He said: “It was crying its eyes out because it wanted to get to her. “It broke my heart to see it.”
RSPCA inspector Jackie Hickman said when she had looked into Mikey’s eyes she thought she could read his emotions but had felt powerless to save him.
She said: “I’m pleased the court’s viewed this seriously.
“It’s a situation where these animals shouldn’t really be kept as pets, but it’s commonly happening.”
Sentencing: 12-month community order with 300 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £2,713.50 towards the RSPCA’s costs and compensation to Ms Lister of £325 each. Banned from keeping animals for life.
