CONVICTED (2012) | hare coursers Daniel Bibby, born 22 October 1952, and son William Bibby, born 17 May 1980, of Schole Road, Willingham, Cambridge CB24 5JD
Daniel and Billy Bibby
Daniel Bibby and eight other men were arrested after police were called to Ibberson’s Drove, Benwick, at just before 11.30am on February 12, 2011.
Officers from the force’s rural community action team (RCAT), backed up by other officers and the force helicopter, stopped two vehicles in nearby Whittlesey.
Bibby pleaded not guilty to hare coursing but was convicted following a trial..
He was banned from driving for six months, fined £150, ordered to pay £200 court costs and a victim charge of £15. He was also given a two-year ASBO which orders him:
• Not to be on any farmland or private fields in Cambridgeshire in possession of any lurcher-type dogs, and
• Not to be on any farmland or private fields in Cambridgeshire in company with or otherwise associated with any person who is in possession of any lurcher-type dog.
Bibby’s son, Billy, and six other men and a 16-year-old boy were also found guilty of hare coursing offences.
Billy Bibby was fined £200 and ordered to pay £200 court costs and a £15 victim charge.
The others, who were from counties including Dorset, Surrey and Essex, were also issued with fines and ordered to pay court costs.
Both vehicles used by the offenders were seized and have been forfeited.
Pc Simon Page, from RCAT, said: “This case demonstrates that people are willing come from far and wide to take part in this illegal activity.
“The Asbo prevents Bibby from being involved in hare coursing and I would urge anyone who sees him in such circumstances to call police.
“Those taking part in hare coursing can often have associations with other types of crimes and we will continue to take it very seriously.”
Clockwise from top left: Ian Draper, Danny Draper, Laura Borrow and Katy Davies
The despicable activities of gypsies Ian Draper and son Danny Draper were uncovered after Ian Draper’s ex-wife Sharon took a terrier named Bridget to a veterinary practice to be treated. The painfully thin dog had been so desperate for food she had swallowed her own collar. The vet tipped off the RSPCA who investigated.
At Danny Draper’s home inspectors found several bull-terrier dogs in an emaciated condition. One dog was so starved that he had eaten his collar.
Danny Draper is pictured with a dog before a fight
All of the dogs were scarred and some had broken teeth and injured tails.
Equipment used for training fighting dogs, including a treadmill, was also discovered, along with a video showing two dogs tearing each other apart.
More dogs were found at Ian Draper’s home. He was given a three-month custodial sentence in 2005 for similar offences, and was serving a ten-year ban on keeping animals at the time of the offences.
Swindon Crown Court was shown footage of one fight in which the Drapers are heard cheering a dog named Ozzy. It was so horrific Judge Simon Cooper asked for it to be turned off after a minute.
Officials also found a break-stick with several teeth marks on used to wedge into the jaws of fighting dogs to separate them.
The Drapers kept notes of the dogs’ training regimes as they hardened them for bouts lasting up to 40 minutes, on which punters made huge bets.
Starving and injured ‘fighting’ dogs were kept in squalor at the Drapers’ homes in Oxfordshire
The pair often held practice fights. Their dogs had even featured in a dog-fighting magazine. The animals were trained to attack wounds or the neck and face, often resulting in lips being ripped off.
Danny Draper pleaded guilty to five charges including possession of items in connection with an animal fight, while his father pleaded guilty to seven charges.
The men’s then girlfriends Laura Borrow (left) and Katy Davies pictured outside court
The men’s girlfriends Laura Borrow and Katy Davies were not only aware of their partners’ actions but played a key role in organising dog fights themselves. Davies pleaded guilty to one offence of aiding and abetting Ian Draper. Borrow pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering.
Sentencing: Ian Draper was given a 20-week prison sentence and Danny Draper a 12-week sentence. Ian Draper was also banned from keeping dogs for life after he admitted breaching his previous ban. His son was given a 15-year ban.
Katy Davies was fined £600. Hornsby was ordered to pay £300 in costs and disqualified from keeping dogs.
Danny Draper has changed his name by deed poll to Danny Smith. He and father Ian Draper, who both live at 1 Walkers Close, Asthall, Burford, OX18 4HN, are directors of a courier company called Cotswold Couriers Ltd (possibly now defunct).
Danny and Ian Draper are no longer with Laura Borrow and Katy Davies and both women have gone on to marry other people and take their husbands’ names.
Davies is now Katy Chapman. She lives in Church Lane, Burford OX18 4SD. Laura Borrow was known as Laura Hornsby for a while but is now Laura Saxton. She lives in Moorland Road, Witney OX28 6LT.
CONVICTED (2011) | Kevin Stuart Varty, born 20/04/1968, of Brocket Close, Newton Aycliffe DL5 7NL, Andrew John Painter, born 30/08/1978, of Westerton View, Coundon, Bishop Auckland DL14 8QS, and Kieran Lee Wynn, born 19/02/1993, of Raby Terrace, Chilton, Ferryhill DL17 0JD – caused gross cruelty and tremendous suffering to a lurcher pup who’d been hit by a car
Co Durham’s Kevin Varty, Kieran Wynn and Andrew Painter subjected a sweet lurcher named Maggie May to a horrific ordeal but the plucky little dog survived.
The court heard that Maggie had been run over on a Saturday evening, just hours after Wynn bought her. Claiming that he couldn’t afford vet treatment Wynn tied chopsticks to the dog’s broken leg with red lace and Sellotape.
Friends Varty and Painter visited Wynn’s home the following day and the wicked trio decided to kill her.
Kevin Varty
Varty first tried to “choke the dog out” but when she showed signs of life Painter stood on her, and pulled her back legs over her head, breaking her neck.
Andrew |Painter
Painter then stabbed her repeatedly with a potato peeler and took her outside, believing she was dead, only for her to regain consciousness and wander off later that night. She was picked up by a passer-by who took her to the RSPCA. During several weeks of treatment Maggie had to have a leg amputated but miraculously recovered and was rehomed.
Kieran Wynn pictured in 2021
Wynn pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to Maggie by failing to provide her with veterinary care following a road traffic accident.
Varty and Painter admitted causing unnecessary suffering by subjecting the dog to physical trauma resulting in a fractured neck. Painter also admitted causing unnecessary suffering by repeatedly stabbing her with a potato peeler.
Sentencing:
Varty and Painter were both given 18 weeks in custody and lifetime bans from keeping animals. Wynn was given conditional bail and was due to be sentenced on August 22, 2011. The outcome of that sentence was never reported.
In February 2015 Kieran Wynn, now 21 and a heroin addict, was jailed for five years after barging into a family’s home with a machete and made threats to kill
In March 2022 Wynn was jailed for four months after breaching a court-imposed restraining order in relation to an ex-partner for the fourth time in seven months.
In September 2020, he was jailed for ten months for four counts of battery, possessing an offensive weapon and harassment. It related to attack on the woman and two of her friends, in Ferryhill, in July 2020.
The court heard that Wynn had “a compendious record, for numerous offences, including burglary, larceny and using counterfeit currency.”
CONVICTED (2011) | Trevor James Hall, born 17 November 1965, of Harts Hill Farm, Holt Road, Horsham St Faith, Norwich NR10 3AH – set up a cockfighting training farm and ran cruel and illegal fights over three years.
Hall admitted five charges of holding cockfights, keeping and training cocks to fight, keeping premises for cockfights, taking part in cockfights, and being present at a cockfight.
But he claimed that he was forced into holding the cock fights by travellers who had threatened the safety of his girlfriend and parents. This claim was the subject of a trial at Norwich Magistrates’ Court.
The trial heard that Hall had a collection of cockfighting books including ‘The art of training fighting cocks’, DVDs and videos including ‘Chicken Fights 3’, and had filmed his cockerels fighting.
He was finally caught when the RSPCA and police jointly carried out raids at his parents’ home, and at his girlfriend’s home in Vale Green, Mile Cross, where he lived.
Hall, though his solicitor Simon Nicholls, had put forward the defence that he was been forced to hold the cockfighting events by travellers.
Indeed, one person came and sat down at the back of the court during the trial, and the court was later told that this person had threatened Hall and followed him into the toilets.
But chairman of the bench, Bob Price said he did not believe Hall could use the defence of acting under duress, because he said he always had the option of reporting it to the police or RSPCA, or he could just have got rid of his birds.
Jonathan Eales, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: ‘On August 18 [2010] police and RSPCA carried out simultaneous raids at the parents’ farm where they seized 10 cocks suspected of being involved in cockfighting.
‘Simultaneously a warrant was carried out at Vale Green, where a number of video tapes and books relating to cockfighting were seized.
‘This included two VHS tapes containing 300 minutes of multiple cockfighting images, some with metal spurs on their legs to cause more injury. At least one fight was to the death.
‘Two camcorders and a laptop were also seized, also containing footage of cockfighting, and some cockfighting magazines and five cockfighting books.’
Hall was arrested and admitted in police interview to be the owner of 89 birds at his parent’s home, including the 10 seized. He also admitted he was the owner of the items seized at his girlfriend’s premises.
Mr Eales said that Hall, a former haulier, claimed in interview that he had always been interested in cocks, their breeding and the different types.
He obtained a bird and started breeding in 2004/5, when one of his birds was bought by a Traveller. He maintained that travellers thereafter regularly visited and he was left intimidated, Mr Eales said.
Hall said they forced him to allow the birds to fight, and admitted to filming two birds sparring at the farm on two occasions, while no one else was present.
He also admitted preparing videos of the birds fighting for travellers.
Giving evidence, Hall said he did not want to get rid of his birds because he loved them.
He said the travellers would turn up for cockfights in groups of about four, but they were never seen in the videos. He said he was never paid for holding the fights.
‘The birds were my hobby. I was trying to recreate some of the old colours that have been lost, hence the books I had. I am interested in the social history of cock fighting,’ he said.
He denied training any birds to fight and said he only allowed two of his birds to spar because he wanted to keep the stronger back for breeding.
Mr Nicholls said all the factual evidence presented in court was unchallenged, but said that Hall had received several smacks in the mouth from travellers.
He said: ‘The level of threats was serious. They are talking about burning houses down and causing serious injury to Mr Hall, his girlfriend and his parents. These are serious threats. They are – ‘Either do this or else’.’
RSPCA Inspector Ben Kirby, who gave evidence at the trial, said: ‘Cock fighting is a notoriously difficult offence to investigate because of its underground nature.
‘It exists in certain elements of society but is not compatible with modern legislation. The RSPCA is becoming more pro-active in fighting this offence, and we will prosecute whenever we get the opportunity.’
The court heard that Hall had a previous recent conviction for supplying drugs..
Sentencing | 18-week suspended sentence, five-month curfew; £250 costs. Five-year ban on owning animals.
CONVICTED (2011) | hare coursers Eddie Cole, born 20 February 1982, and Matthew James Wenman, born 10 June 1986, both of South Oaks Caravan Park, Dorking Road, Chilworth, Guildford GU4 8NS but with links to Rudgwick, Horsham, West Sussex Matthew Giles, born c. 1979, of Hilltops Caravan Park, Stovolds Hill, Cranleigh GU6 8LE, Tony Frenny Giles, born 22 April 1985 of Twin Oaks, Knowle Lane, Cranleigh GU6 8JW and Nelson Hedges, born c. 1987, of Guildford Road, Normandy, Guildford GU3 2AR
Clockwise from bottom left Eddie Cole, Nelson Hedges, Tony Giles, Matthew Wenman, Matthew Giles
A group of illegal hare coursers who drove 150 miles to let their dogs chase hares in north Suffolk were fined and banned from driving in February 2011.
Eddie Cole, Matthew Giles, Tony Giles, Nelson Hedges and Matthew Wenman were each fined £1,000 and banned from driving for 56 days after they pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with a dog.
Magistrates heard the five defendants had driven up from Surrey and Sussex with five dogs on December 12, 2010, and allowed their dogs to chase hares in a field in Flixton, near Bungay.
At least one hare was killed by the pack of dogs, which included a spring spaniel, a terrier and a seven-month-old puppy.
Colette Griffiths, prosecuting said the five men were found by police stretched out in a line as the dogs chased a hare which was killed.
Police had arrived at the field after a farmer in another field had noticed the men acting suspiciously and alerted officers.
In mitigation the court heard the men were all “extremely remorseful” and recognised “the consequences of their actions”.
Sentencing | fined £1,000 each plus £100 court costs.
Nelson Hedges was jailed for two months for dangerous driving after leading a 100mph police chase.
Officers from Cambridgeshire Police suspected Hedges was hare coursing in his silver Mazda Tribute after members of the public reported him.
The force’s Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT) spotted the vehicle, covered in mud and with dogs in the boot, driving through the village of Iselham, Cambs.
Police parked across the road and signalled Hedges to pull over but he swerved round the car, mounting a pavement, and sped off.
He drove at speeds of nearly 100mph in a 40mph zone and darted across two junctions without stopping.
In a bid to evade police capture, he even drove onto a field causing around £200 worth of damage to crops.
He was arrested after his vehicle came to a halt when police blocked it in another field.
Hedges was also disqualified from driving for 19 months, with an extended retest, after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and criminal damage,
#MostEvil | Amersham horse trader James John Gray (05/09/1963), wife Julie Cordelia Gray (24/05/1967) and daughters Jodie June Gray (12/09/1982) and Cordelia Gray (29/05/1988) and James Gray junior (23/01/1993) – left more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys to starve among the rotting carcasses of other animals
Clockwise from top left: James Gray Sr, Julie Gray, Cordelia Gray, Jodie Gray, court protestors, James Gray Jr
In a case veterinary expert witness described as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen, 31 equines were found dead at Spindle Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham. Some 111 other horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued.
The massive rescue was co-ordinated by Thames Valley Police, Trading Standards and the RSPCA with help from the Horse Trust, the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), Redwings Horse Sanctuary and the Blue Cross
James Gray Sr is banned for life from keeping equine animals
Hooves and body parts of horses that had been left to die were scattered around and a grotesque mound made up of bones and skulls was discovered.
The horror scene was uncovered when RSPCA inspectors were called to the farm, where a horse-trading business run by the Gray family was based.
James Gray Jr
There were 140 animals at the farm and many were left with little food or dry bedding, were crammed into pens and ankle-deep in their own faeces.
Jodie Gray, aka Jodie Keet, with son Tommy Gray
In total 115 animals, some severely emaciated, had to be rescued and removed from the farm during a huge operation in January 2009.
Robert Seabrook QC told the court how two RSPCA inspectors visiting the farm in January 2008 were confronted with a “grotesque and distressing state of affairs”.
He said a number of horses were discovered in “disgusting pens”, some were tethered individually and others were loose in the paddocks.
The most extraordinary aspect he said was that many horses were next to carcasses in varying states of decomposition and the smell of rotting flesh was “over-powering”.
He added: “A number of animals that were found had plainly been dead for a number of days and as it turns out, some for many months.”
Julie Gray
The court heard in one pen three severed hooves were found alongside the bodies of two other horses.
James Gray Sr was convicted of nine charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
His son James Gray Jr was convicted of identical charges although two were later overturned on appeal.
Gray’s wife, Julie, and daughters Cordelia and Jodie were found guilty of the two charges of failing to protect the animals.
No member of the family showed any sign of emotion as the judge passed sentence.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Hampton described the conditions the horses were kept in as “grotesque”.
Speaking after the sentencing, Hampton said: “The RSPCA is pleased the district judge has recognised the extent of the cruelty, neglect and the suffering endured by the animals in this case.
“We see the disqualifications from keeping horses as an effective measure to prevent animals suffering in future.”
Sentencing: James Gray Sr was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from keeping horses, ponies and donkeys for life. He was also ordered to pay £400,000. Gray was given a further two months after absconding from court. Two of Gray’s convictions were overturned in 2010, but Gray was ordered to pay £600,000 towards the RSPCA’s legal costs and faced financial ruin. A later appeal against what Gray claimed were disproportionate legal costs was rejected.
James Gray Junior was given an 18-month supervision order. He was banned from keeping equines for 10 years with right of appeal after five (ban expired June 2019).
Julie, Jodie and Cordelia Gray were each given 150 hours of community service. They were also banned from keeping equines for 10 years, with the right of appeal after five (bans expired June 2019).
Julie Gray was ordered to pay £750 in costs, and Cordelia Gray and Jodie Gray £500 each.
James Gray and Cordelia Gray, 57 Narcot Road, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4DF Julie Cordelia Gray, 15 Weller Road, Amersham HP6 6LQ James Gray Jr, Chalk Hill Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham HP6 5SA Jodie June Gray (also known as Jodie Keet), 14 Middle Meadow, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4QS
Update September 2021
The Bucks Free Press reported that James Gray was let off £200,000-worth of fines due to bankruptcy.
Gray was ordered to pay more than £1million in fines and court costs and has served jail time since he was convicted of multiple animal welfare offences in 2008.
He attempted to appeal the convictions at London’s High Court in 2013, but although two of his 11 original convictions were overturned, he was ultimately unsuccessful and had another £200,000 added to his legal bill.
In August 2021, Gray, of 57 Narcot Road in Chalfont St Giles, had £223,453-worth of fines written off.
Documents attached to the court listing state that the amount was remitted due to Gray being bankrupt, having served prison time, and the RSPCA refusing the money.
In 2014, Gray was hauled back before the courts and was jailed for four-and-a-half years after he fleeced pensioners out of thousands of pounds for cowboy building works.
In an attempt to raise funds to pay off his fines and court costs, Gray conned an 88-year-old former British Library academic out of £20,000 for work which experts valued at just £150.
He drained £18,000 out of another 80-year-old victim’s account, leaving him with just £300 after repeatedly demanding money from him. This victim died just months after the money was found to be missing.
Gray, who had done this work under the fake name ‘Joseph De Paula’, admitted two counts of fraud by false representation before he was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court.
CONVICTED (2008) | dog fighter Clayton Paul Beard, born 2 May 1983, and as of June 2021 of The Beeches, Prospect Way, Birchills, Walsall WS2 7FD
Clayton Beard, then of Cannon Street, Ryecroft, Walsall, had three dogs in his possession when RSPCA inspectors raided his home in 2007. Beard, whom locals nicknamed “the Dog Man”, admitted owning two male and one female pit bulls, causing unnecessary suffering to one of the dogs, possessing animal fighting equipment and keeping or training the dogs for fighting purposes.
A treadmill and other equipment was found at Beard’s home and the court heard how he forced his dogs through a cruel daily training schedule. A makeshift veterinary kit, which included superglue for sealing fighting wounds, was also discovered.
One dog, called Lee, had suffered 70 wounds. Another two animals also had 35 wounds and 24 wounds each.
Magistrates ordered two dogs to be destroyed immediately.
The case was the first dog fighting prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, according to the RSPCA.
Magistrate Michael Kearns said a custodial sentence had been “inevitable”.
He told Beard that he had three “highly dangerous dogs of an aggressive breed” in his possession.
The three dogs had received many wounds “over a prolonged period which must have caused them suffering”, but Beard had made “no effort” to seek veterinary attention for them.
Instead, Beard had been involved in treating the animals’ wounds so that they could fight again, the court heard.
The court heard that Beard was a man of “limited cognitive ability” who had received “abuse” from his neighbours.
Speaking outside court, Chief Inspector Ian Briggs, of the RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit, said he was “extremely pleased” with the custodial sentence and ban.
He said: “People involved in these activities should not be able to own animals.”
He said that animal protection bodies had welcomed the new offences of possessing articles adapted for training animals to fight, and keeping animals in connection with fighting.
He said: “We always come across these articles on dog fighting operations, but before it’s never been an offence.”
Sentencing: 18 weeks in custody. Banned for life from keeping or being responsible for any animals.
In November 2007 an Irish traveller named Ceri Louisa O’Neill, also from Birchills in Walsall, was banned from keeping dogs for three years after admitting selling the pit bull terrier known as Lee to Clayton Beard.
James Cooper, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, told the court the offences came to light when an inspector and police officers visited Beard’s home following a tip-off.
Mr Cooper told the court the inquiry then moved to Miner Street, where O’Neill lived at the time with adult sons James and Patrick O’Neill and daughter Astar Louise O’Neill.
He said: “The defendant accepted the dog had been in her possession and that she took it to Beard to be treated by him and in fact sold it to him for £100.”
When pit bull expert Jane Robson examined Lee there was evidence of more than 45 wounds, scabs on his face, head, chest and legs. Some were four to six weeks old.
Mr Stephen Scully, defending, said: “Earlier this year her ex-husband brought the dog as a gift. He told her he rescued it from fighting.”
He said when the couple split the dog was left in her care. She took him to Beard later that day after the animal was involved in a “scrap” with other dogs in Pelsall after her daughter took him to a fair without her permission.
Ceri Louise O’Neill is now deceased.
As of June 2021 Astar O’Neill, born 24 July 1991, lives at the Caravan Site, Ruthin Road, Coedpoeth, Wrexham LL11 3BP.
CONVICTED (2008) | dog-fighting ring member Daniel Tate, born 6 December 1987, previously of Cresswell Road, Grangetown, Middlesbrough but at the time of conviction of George Street, Redcar TS10 2BN – set his illegal pit bull terrier on a smaller dog in a vicious “training session”.
Daniel Tate: dog fighter, pervert, lifelong loser.
Twisted Daniel Tate, also a registered sex offender, was sentenced to five months at a young offenders’ institution and banned from keeping animals for ten years after he pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a dog and owning a banned animal.
Mobile phone footage of the fight was handed to Cleveland Police, who asked the RSPCA to investigate the case.
The court heard that Tate’s pit bull terrier-type dog, Chico, was filmed fighting a Staffordshire bull terrier-type dog that RSPCA inspectors believe had been stolen for the illegal confrontation.
John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Tate had helped set up the fight between his pit bull Chico and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in an alley at the back of King Street, South Bank, on January 7, 2007.
He said: “This case is presented on the basis that this was an arranged training session for the pit bull to teach it that it can fight and win.
“It’s fairly obvious there can only be one winner in this fight and that was the case. The pit bull quite quickly got the better of the Staffordshire.”
Still from the horrific footage showing an illegal pitbull being set on a small Staffy who is believed to have been stolen for baiting.
The short film showed the dogs being baited and encouraged to fight, with Tate’s dog viciously attacking the other animal.
Despite the efforts to trace the Staffordshire bull terrier the inspectors were unable to trace the attacked dog and have not been able to determine whether the animal was seriously injured or even killed.
Mr Ellwood said an onlooker to the baiting session had recorded the fight on a mobile phone and had forwarded the images to other people. One of those people had taken it to the police and officers recognised both Tate and his pit bull as being from the Grangetown area, the court heard yesterday.
Mr Ellwood said officers raided Tate’s former home in Cresswell Road where they found him hiding in a bathroom cupboard.
Daniel Tate was allowed to own animals again from 2018.
When a vet examined the pit bull in April 2007 – months after the fight was caught on camera – fresh wounds consistent with another fighting dog were found, said Mr Ellwood.
Tate pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by causing it to fight and being in possession of an illegal dog.
He also admitted failure to comply with his notification requirements as a registered sex offender after he received an 18 month community order for a conviction in March, 2007.
Inspector Alan Fisher, of the RSPCA’s special operations Unit, investigated the dog fight.
Speaking after the hearing, he said: “I’m very pleased the court viewed this matter so seriously and passed their sentence accordingly.
“Dog-fighting is an appalling and cruel practice.
“Animals are forced together in artificial circumstances and caused pain and suffering.
“The RSPCA will continue its efforts to stamp out this vile practice, and assistance from the public in reporting these matters is gratefully appreciated and welcome.”
The video footage led to Cleveland Police and the RSPCA carrying out a crackdown on illegal fighting dogs in the east Cleveland area, which saw seven suspected members of a dog-fighting ring arrested in March 2007.
The raids, which were the culmination of a ten-month surveillance operation, saw four heavily- built pit bull terrier-type dogs led into restraint cages by RSPCA officers.
Operation Bale is believed to have smashed a gang suspected of using dangerous dogs for social status and organising spectator battles in alley-gated arenas near homes.
Sentencing: Five months at a young offenders’ institution. Banned from keeping animals for ten years (expired 2018).
In May 2008 one of Tate’s accomplices, James Harland aka Jimbo Foster, a traveller from South Bank, Middlesbrough, was jailed for six months for his part in the baiting incident.
James Harland “tragically” died in 2016.
Harland was also disqualified from owning animals for ten years after pleading guilty to procuring a dog fight.
In 2016 morbidly obese Harland died in his sleep at the age of 29. He was described by his fellow travellers as a “loveable rogue” with “a heart of gold”.
