#MostEvil | Charlene Elaine Latham, born 22 March 1988, of Wild Wood B&B, 15 St Brannocks Road, Ilfracombe EX34 8EG – tried to drown a dog in a freezing river
Charlene Latham pleaded guilty to attempting to drown elderly Belgian shepherd Bella in the the River Trent near Lincoln.
The dog’s lead was attached to a carrier bag tied to a large rock. She was rescued by passer-by Jane Harper after she was discovered struggling and submerged in the water near Long Lane in Farndon near Newark on January 6, 2020.
Latham, then of Newark, Nottinghamshire, was arrested by police alongside partner Leigh Craig Johnson, born 28 November 1987, previously of Worksop and now of 35 Yew Tree Road, Retford DN22 8AY. Johnson denied the charge and the case against him was discontinued.
The RSPCA were criticised for not pursuing the case against Leigh Johnson despite Latham naming him in her statement as the person that had thrown the dog into the river. The charity determined that there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction against Johnson, so magistrates agreed to the withdrawal of the charge against him.
After being widely named on social media in the aftermath of the incident, Johnson and Latham were escorted from their Newark home by poli and into hiding in a Devon B&B, such was the public revulsion at what had happened to Bella.
The couple were jointly charged with the attempted drowning of Bella on January 6, 2020.
Harry Bowyer, prosecuting, said Bella was found by dog walkers at around 8.20am with her head on a concrete plinth with the rest of her body submerged in the freezing January waters. A portion of her lead was attached around her neck to an Aldi bag containing a rock weighing 34.7kg that had weighted her to the river bed.
A dog walker waded into the river to pull Bella out. At the vets, her temperature was too low for a thermometer to read.
She was also found to be underweight and had a matted coat.
Mr Bowyer said police attended Latham’s address and she opened the door, phone in hand, to say that she was just ringing the police as Bella was missing.
Latham’s daughter told police that her mother and mother’s partner had gone out the previous evening at 9.20pm with Bella, but she was unable to say whether the dog returned with them.
Latham was borrowing a friend’s car at the time and found in it was the remainder of the severed lead that had been used to weigh Bella down.
Mr Chignell, mitigating for Latham, said his client was five months pregnant at the time and could not have thrown Bella into the river herself.
Latham had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity on the basis of a failure to safeguard Bella’s welfare rather than any involvement in her attempted drowning. Mr Chignell described what happened to Bella at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court as an awful case and awful treatment of an animal and genuine unpleasant cruelty, but not cruelty by her.
“Her role was limited,” he said.
He said Johnson and Latham had driven to the river but Latham had no idea what Johnson intended to do and had begged him not to drown Bella.
“I am concerned to hear the RSPCA is not proceeding against the person she named in her statement,” he said
“The RSPCA, it appears now have decided that they are not going to try him as they are not obtaining the evidence to try him.
“The case was adjourned so he could have his trial.”
Of Johnson, he said: “He is someone who is aggressive and controlling in that relationship, she’s not.
“These are very different people with very different roles.
“As a result only one person is going to take the fall for this.
“The reality is the person convicted of this heinous offence is not here and that’s not her fault.”
Mr Chignell said his client accepted she should have got immediate help for Bella when she went back to the car or afterwards.
He argued his client had suffered greatly already as a result of the abuse she had suffered on social media and suggested a conditional discharge.
The 11-year-old dog has remained at the RSPCA Radcliffe Animal Centre in Nottingham since the incident as she has complex veterinary needs.
She has however been completely transformed from the dog who almost didn’t make it to the bouncy elderly girl she is now.
Ella Carpenter, manager at Radcliffe Animal Centre said after the case that they are now desperate to find Bella a loving new home.
The home would need to be in the vicinity of the Radcliffe Centre.
Ella said: “We are both proud and privileged to have cared for Bella over the past fourteen months.
“At times we thought she just wouldn’t make it, with her age and underlying health conditions all against her. But Bella has fought every day, showing enviable strength and courage, not wanting to give up her fight to recover.
“We hope that she will now be able to live out the rest of her life with the love and respect that she has always deserved and are looking for that special forever home for Bella.”
The incident prompted over 165,000 people to call for tougher sentences and justice for Bella.
Sentencing | 12-month community order; ordered to pay a total of £312. Disqualified from keeping dogs for three years (expires March 2024).
These are evil and mentally disturbed scum.
I hope Social Services are keeping a close eye on her Children.
Charlene Latham needs to go jail and the key to be thrown away- she should rot in jail until the day she dies!!!! come to think about it, she should be hurt the same way!!!!
What a horrible,nasty person!!!
PLEASE PUNISH HER TO THE MOST SEVER WAY!!!!
Both are scumbags. I hope the townspeople find them and
render justice. DBs’
£312 ??!! Disqualified for keeping dogs for just 3 years??!!. What kind of justice is that? Disgraceful. This pair of scum should never keep pets ever again. They should have been put behind bars for at least two years. Poor, poor dog and what wicked people to ever consider drowning their dog.
This is why people believe in god. It gives them hope that justice will be served at some point, since it is so rarely in our sick societies. I’m personally not a believer so I’m just hoping their child grows up and kills them in their sleep.
Both of them are the scum of the earth and both should have received very long jail sentences for the cruelty inflicted on Bella…..thank goodness she was rescued in the nick of time and thanks to a lot of care pulled through and is now knowing the love and care all innocent animals should have as their right…
SHE’S PREGNANT. Can u imagine these things as parents and what they would do to a child that would not stop crying. Both these things need to be in jail and SHAME THE FUCK ON THE COMPLETE LACK OF JUSTICE HERE. ALL THE OUTCRY AND JUDGES IGNORING PUBLIC OUTRAGE IS A COMPLETE FAILURE OF A JUDGE. ALLOWED TO OWN A DOG IN 3 YEARS. THIS JUDGE NEEDS TO BE IN JAIL RATE ALONG SIDE THESE TWO PIECES OF GARBAGE. WHEN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS SUCH A ABSOLUTE FAILURE TO SOCIETY,..TO PEOPLE,…AND TO ANIMALS,……THEY NEED TO BE IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM THE BENCH. HEY EVERYONE,…NOTICE THEY DID NOT PUT THE JUDGE’S NAME UP. FUCKING DISGUSTING
EXACTLY! That sentence was no sentence. They should have been jailed, the two of them. Keep fighting for justice for abused animals. They need us now more than ever. Any judge who lets a perpetrator off this CRIME with a slap on the wrist should be disbarred and jailed himself. Sick to death of our corrupt NO-justice system!
Social Services need to keep a very close eye on this pair and their new baby. If they could do that to a dog, it’s only a short step to what they could do to a teething, constantly crying baby.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THIS CONTINUES TO HAPPEN. THERE IS NO PUNISHMENT!!!! FOR THE 1 IN 1000 THAT IS REVEALED,….AND THAT ONE CASE GOES COMPLETELY UNPUNISHED WITH A SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR BEING SUCH BAD GIRLS AND BOYS. OF COURSE IT CONTINUES U IDIOTS,…(IDIOTS BEING JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS),…U DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DETER THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR. I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE STUPIDITY OF JUDGES AND THEIR ABSOLUTE LACK OF COMMON SENSE. IT’S MIND BOGGLING. WHEN U START PUNISHING,….AND PUNISHING HARSHLY,…THINGS MIGHT THINK TWICE. NO DETERRENT SO OF COURSE IT CONTINUES. IT’S ALL GOOD TO GO AS IN THIS CASE AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS. JUDICIAL SYSTEMS ARE A COMPLETE LACKING…. “THE BOY HAS BEEN HURT BY PUBLIC MEDIA COMMENTS AND THEREFORE HE SHOULD GET OFF”,…WHAT A FUCKING DISGUSTING JOKE.