CONVICTED (2018) | puppy dealer Patrick Ward, born 12/07/1977 of Windermere Road, Leigh, Wigan WN7 – for a catalogue of cruelty to dogs.
Gypsy traveller Patrick Ward and co-defendants Martin Ward and Julie Michelle Ward were all found guilty in their absence in August 2016 of a string of animal welfare offences relating to the sale of puppies in the Greater Manchester area.
The trio fled justice, however, and two of them still remain at large.
In May 2018 Patrick Ward was finally arrested and sent to prison. At the time of writing, the other two had yet to be apprehended.
RSPCA Inspector Pippa Boyd, who led the investigation into the puppy sellers, said: “We launched an investigation into Mr Ward, his brother and his sister-in-law after receiving a number of complaints from members of the public who had purchased puppies that had soon fallen ill after arriving home.
“We believe the trio were importing puppies and then selling them on from two addresses in Leigh.
“When we joined police to execute two warrants at the properties in February 2016 we found a number of dogs and other evidence.
“At one address – in Windermere Road – we found a number of phones labelled with different dog breeds. At the other – in Douglas Road – we found three dogs, one with an untreated broken pelvis, and the body of a dead Jack Russell terrier left in a kennel.”
Sentencing: 22 weeks in prison; £150 victim surcharge. Disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years (expires May 2028).