CONVICTED (2022) | Ashley Grundy, born c. 1990, of Preston Street, Kirkham, Preston PR4 and Steven Paul Robinson, born c. 1982, of Devonshire Street, Lancaster LA1 4TQ – decapitated a dog and left his head on a door handle in act of revenge

Violent career criminals Ashley Grundy and Steven Robinson were in The Baron’s Rest pub in Astley Village on May 19 2018 when they got into a dispute with another customer.

Grundy, whose previous convictions include dangerous driving and possession of a knife, threatened the customers in the pub and then in the early hours of the following morning the pair drove to the victim’s address in Whittle le Woods. They stole the pet Yorkshire terrier called Bailey and drove back to the Baron’s Rest where they decapitated the dog.

The victim’s mother and her child discovered the sickening sight after the duo dumped the dog’s body at the pub and left his head on the handle of an address in Astley Village where Bailey lived.

The pair were sentenced to 19 months in prison for criminal damage and outraging public decency.

The Crown Prosecutor described the incident as an act of revenge and intimidation which was intended to cause maximum fear to the victims.

Police launched an investigation following the incident and carried out extensive enquiries to bring the sadistic pair to justice.

The carcass of Bailey was later discovered in the bushes at the side of the Barons Rest. An extensive CCTV trawl showed the defendant Robinson discarding an item into the bush using a car mat to wrap the item in which was later found to be Bailey’s decapitated body.

Sgt Paul Harrison, who led the investigation, said: “This was a lengthy investigation which involved a number of officers. Officers sat through hours of CCTV and had to go through distressing incidents to compare the DNA from Bailey’s head and carcass to the DNA of the blood found in and on the vehicle that Grundy and Robinson were using. I’d like to thank all the officers involved who worked tirelessly to bring this investigation to a conclusion. I now hope that this can give some closure to the victim who lost a beloved pet due to the barbaric act of these two individuals.”

LancsLive

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Additional Information

Steven Robinson’s previous convictions include:

• 2014: defrauding a vulnerable woman out of £23,000 by charging her for building work that was never done.
• 2015: scamming elderly people.
• 2019: false imprisonment and assault.
• 2019: fly tipping.