The brutal killing of a much-loved family dog called Lucky by a ruthless and depraved gang fixated on revenge was one of the most disturbing animal cruelty incidents in the UK in recent years. It was a case that rightly repulsed and outraged the communities of County Durham in North East England, and animal lovers further afield.

In a vicious joint enterprise involving several men, the eight-year-old cocker spaniel was stolen from her garden in Ripley Close, Ouston – a village near Chester-le-Street – at around 10pm on Wednesday 27 July 2022. The thieves also took a second dog, a lurcher-type called Sandy, but she escaped uninjured. Little Lucky, however, was dragged to a waiting vehicle and driven away.

Some hours later she was found horrifically injured in the village of Lanchester, about 10 miles away from her home. She had been doused in accelerant and set on fire, suffering full thickness burns to over 50% of her body.

Lucky was rushed to Dunelm Vets in Gilesgate before being transferred to Wear Referrals Veterinary Specialist and Emergency Hospital for 24-hour care.

Harrowing photographs taken at the vet’s showed the little dog with a burnt pink nose, a blistered ear and a red eye, her paws covered in bandages.

She had sustained burns to her mouth and throat, as well as wounds to her head. Her long ears had been targeted with most of them having burned away. She had also suffered secondary infection and organ damage.

Vets battled to save Lucky’s life, but after 48 hours it was clear that she wouldn’t survive and her distraught owner, Angela Clennell, had to make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep.

Speaking to the media in the immediate aftermath of the incident, Detective Inspector Daniel Peacock of Durham Constabulary said the attack was “targeted [and] a result of an ongoing dispute“.

Within hours, five men whose names were already circulating in the community and on social media were questioned on suspicion of dog theft and arson, but all were released under investigation.

No charges ever followed, however, and in late April 2023 police officers advised Angela that they had closed the case due to a lack of evidence. Naturally she was devastated at this outcome. Where was the justice?

Summary of events leading to the attack on Lucky

IMPORTANT: as this case has never come to court, much of the following information is based on uncorroborated anecdotal evidence and allegations.

The “ongoing dispute” surrounding Lucky’s kidnap is understood to have originated in a feud between some members of the Clennell family and two men, namely Lee Hogg from the village of Pelton Fell and Terry Park, a garage owner from Consett.

Several people named Lee Hogg (among others) as Lucky’s killer in the comments of various local newspaper articles:

As far as we know, neither Hogg nor indeed Terry Park were ever questioned by police in relation to the incident, however, and the Clennells don’t believe either of them to be directly involved.

Instead, they pointed to a close associate of Hogg’s as the prime suspect: John Wright from Burnhope.

Wright had allegedly enlisted the help of four thugs from Pelton Fell to help carry out what was by all accounts a calculated, pre-meditated act of vengeance. The alleged accomplices were widely named as feral brothers Dennis, Justin and Richard Lee Burdon and troubled, intellectually-challenged 18-year-old Mason Wozencroft,

It was said that the gang’s initial plan was to steal Lucky and Sandy, decapitate them and return the heads to the Clennells by post (according to one source, two Rottweilers owned by another enemy of Wright’s had met precisely this fate with the dogs’ heads left in hanging baskets outside their owner’s door); ultimately they settled on burning one of the dogs alive instead.

The garden containing Lucky and Sandy (as working dogs, they were kept in outside kennels) was enclosed by a 6-feet high fence but two members of the gang – believed from witness and CCTV evidence to be Wozencroft and Justin Burdon – gained access by standing on a bin and climbing over. They managed to remove the dogs from the garden, but Sandy struggled and apparently bit Wozencroft before fleeing. Sweet-natured Lucky, who may well have gone with the thieves willingly, was bundled into a vehicle and driven away.

Ring doorbell footage captured the suspects’ vehicle – thought to be a dark grey Volkswagen Touareg that has never been found – as it was driven down Middleham Close, Ouston at around 9:55pm.

The gang then drove to Deneside in Lanchester, Durham, which is just under 10 miles’ distance from Ouston.

Coincidentally (or not) the residential road of Deneside is a stone’s throw from the home in Manor Grange, Lanchester, John Wright shares with partner Kayleigh Barron and their two children.

The men attached a length of rope to Lucky’s collar and dragged her to a patch of greenspace bordered by trees and foliage. They then tethered her to a tree, covered her in petrol, which they are thought to have purchased from an unidentified garage, and set her alight.

There are rumours that the attackers filmed Lucky’s agonies on a mobile phone and shared the footage with other sick-minded individuals, but that allegation has never been confirmed.

As Lucky rolled on the ground in agony in a desperate attempt to extinguish the flames, the fire spread to nearby shrubbery and due to the dry conditions quickly took hold. The Fire Brigade was alerted and arrived within minutes. A woman out walking her dog then spotted Lucky who was described as “smouldering”.

Terrified and horrifically injured the little dog kept walking round in circles in tremendous pain and in obvious distress, but fire officers were eventually able to catch her and rush her to a vet. Tragically, her injuries proved unsurvivable.

The campaign to bring Lucky’s killers to justice

Local communities first learned about the attack on Lucky on Facebook the following day after her devastated owner Angela Clennell wrote a heart-breaking public post describing what had happened and appealing for witnesses. A UKACF admin saw the post and messaged Angela to ask if there was anything we could do to help.

At this stage Lucky was still receiving specialist veterinary treatment. As she wasn’t insured, we suggested Angela set up a Go Fund Me page, which she did. Within hours the appeal had raised thousands of pounds from animal lovers worldwide.

Around 48 hours after the attack, Lucky was sadly euthanised and Angela offered to refund donations, but we suggested that she instead use the balance of the money (after vet bills) as a reward for information leading to prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators. Most people were happy for their donations to be repurposed and the #JusticeforLucky campaign was born.

In conjunction with another animal welfare pressure group Operation Frankish, we helped ensure that the case received widespread media coverage with the story being picked up initially by local newspapers such as the Chronicle and Northern Echo before spreading nationally to the likes of the Daily Mail, the Metro and the Mirror. Angela gave live interviews to BBC TV news and Talk TV with their presenter Kevin O’Sullivan, a hardened old-school journalist, breaking down in tears as he read out the details of the case to his audience.

With Angela’s permission, UKACF also set up a petition urging Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen to leave no stone unturned in the hunt for Lucky’s killers.

In response, PCC Allen told the Chronicle Live that she abhorred animal cruelty and supported the calls for robust sanctions against animal abusers. She added that she was unable to comment on the police investigation into Lucky’s killing, but that she had “every sympathy for [her] owners who must be devastated.”

Around 9 August 2022 Operation Frankish [OF] designed a ‘reward’ poster appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

OF arranged for the poster to be distributed in the following areas of County Durham: Ouston, Perkinsville, Pelton Fells, Grange Villa, Beamish, Craghead, Stanley, Burnhope, Lanchester and Chester-le-Street.

Amusingly, one poster ended up stuck to the side of John Wright’s Iveco truck, which was parked outside his unofficial residence in Manor Grange.

Wright sent the photo below to OF while complaining bitterly about the fact that he, an ‘innocent’ man, was being so horribly victimised (bless him). OF’s response to Wright’s complaint was suitably dismissive.

While many witnesses did speak to police, others appeared reluctant to come forward for fear of reprisals. We also understand that one or two key witnesses ultimately withdrew their statements after receiving plausible threats of violence, including arson, from members of the gang.

What is known about the five suspects?

Following her initial Facebook post about the attack on Lucky, Angela Clennell was inundated with messages from local people, many of whom were confident they knew who was involved. The same names came up time and time again: John Wright (confirming the Clennells’ own suspicions), plus Mason Wozencroft and brothers Dennis, Justin and Richard Lee Burdon.

It was said that one or two of the younger members of the gang had openly BRAGGED about killing Lucky, while John Wright had been spotted driving around in his Iveco drop-sided truck, a poster of a hot dog affixed to its side.

Being aware that police were looking to speak to them in connection with the incident, Wright, Wozencroft, Dennis Burdon and Justin Burdon attended a local police station voluntarily while Richard Lee Burdon was arrested. Ultimately all five were released under investigation and have never been charged.

As far as we know there are no other suspects other than these five men. So what else is known about them?

The Alleged Ringleader | John Wright

Born in May 1984 John Robert Wright is a car dismantler trading under the names Northeast Autospares or Stanley Recovery Services.

Wright is a member of a notorious North-East crime family involved in serious and organised criminality including a multi-million pound ‘crash-for-cash’ insurance scam which saw many of them jailed.

There are allegations that Wright is a police informant, which has caused him to become estranged from his extended family with one or two exceptions, notably Robbie Wright who served a nine-month sentence for his role in the family’s motor insurance scam.

In November 2012 Wright was charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition as well as dangerous driving following a police investigation into a gun-running racket. We understand he was convicted and imprisoned but we can find no follow-up online to confirm this.

According to Companies House Wright lives at 6 Fellside, Burnhope, Durham DH7 0DP, but is more likely to be found at the home of his partner, Kayleigh Barron, who lives at 19 Manor Grange, Lanchester, Durham DH7 0LU.

A master manipulator, Wright has a cheeky chappy’ public persona which masks disturbing sinister traits indicative of malignant narcissism. These include extreme arrogance, a lack of empathy, taking pleasure in the pain and suffering of others and having a need to carry out extreme acts of revenge against anyone he perceives as having wronged him.

Brazen Wright has seemed amused by the fall-out from Lucky’s slaying and the subsequent investigation, even going as far as to openly mock the process (for example, driving around with the hotdog poster on his truck) while seemingly enjoying some of the attention.

The Alleged Lackeys | the Burdon brothers and Mason Wozencroft

It is thought that Wright used his outer ‘charm’ to recruit four much younger men – brothers Dennis, Justin and Richard Lee Burdon and their mate Mason Wozencroft – to seek revenge on his behalf.

Always up for an ‘adventure’ no matter how twisted, the feckless Burdons, of 13 Henley Avenue, Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street DH2 2PP, were seemingly particularly eager to help Wright out. Aside from having barely a braincell between them, the three feckless yobs had already demonstrated a propensity for anti-social behaviour and sickening violence.

Two of the Burdons – Dennis and Justin – had racked up multiple convictions for a slew of crimes, with the youngest brother Richard Lee Burdon showing all the signs of heading down the same worthless path.

It seems that this lot were doomed from the start (as their own offspring surely will be too) with a mother Eileen Burdon ( like John Wright, a rumoured police snitch) that was far from engaged in their their upbringing, instead leaving them to roam the streets and cause havoc in their neighbourhood.

It’s even rumoured that Eileen Burdon herself threatened to burn down the homes of anyone naming her sons to the police in connection with Lucky’s killing, but this information is uncorroborated.

With that kind of atrocious parenting, it’s no wonder these boys became the scumbags they are.

So what else do we know about John Wright’s alleged partners in animal abuse?

Born 7 June 1993 Dennis Burdon is a career criminal who as of March 2020 had racked up 20 convictions for 29 offences including driving misdemeanours and burglary involving an 85-year-old woman.

Justin Thomas Burdon, date of birth 4 May 1999, is a waste-carrier and scrap metal dealer though he previously had a gardening business. He has convictions for fly-tipping and multiple thefts from gaming machines. He is also an alleged drug dealer.

Richard Lee Burdon. born 23 October 2002, does not – as far as we know – have a criminal record (he may have committed crimes as a minor of course and not all court cases make the papers). However, we received allegations from more than one source that he had threatened to burn down the home his ex-partner shares with their child with both of them in it. He also allegedly made similar threats to potential witnesses regarding the Lucky case. As one source told us “Richard is not a great person”.

All three brothers appear to be involved in the day-to-day running of three businesses: F.C Scrap Metals, JC Cars aka JC Recovery, and Man with a Van North East and Co Durham.

Born 11 August 2004, Mason Wilson Wozencroft, lives at 32 Ruskin Avenue, Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street DH2 2PT. As far as we can establish he has not yet been convicted of any crime, but we know that he was arrested at a working men’s club in August 2022 during which he appears to have sustained injury.

Wozencroft’s father Simon Wilson, no stranger to the “silver bracelets” as he puts it [meaning handcuffs] filmed himself rowing with his son’s arresting police officers and uploaded the embarrassing footage to his Facebook profile. Highly impressionable, easily led and not very bright (it’s been suggested he has “learning difficulties”), it’s no wonder that Mason Wozencroft fell prey to a narcissist (allegedly).

Suspects unmasked on social media

On 1 August 2022 we published a pixellated version of the photograph below to our Facebook page. The post, which included a link to the ‘Justice for Lucky’ petition and promoted the £10,000 reward, didn’t name the men so as not to jeopardise any prosecution case, although it’s fair to say that they were recognised by many.

The public response to the post was off the scale; it was shared 4,500 times and garnered a reach of 561,300. There were over 2,500 comments and we received dozens of messages. Of those that recognised the suspects, not one had a good word to say about any of them.

One local messaged us with the following allegation: “I was told by a reliable source that it was definitely Mason Wozencroft and Richard Lee Burdon who stole Lucky and done that to her. One of them was bitten by the other dog so will still have bite marks. Lititia Hay [Wozencroft’s then girlfriend] washed their clothes and balaclavas for them when they got back around 3:30am. They were covered in dog hair”.

Here is a flavour of some of the other messages we received :

“It was John Wright who burned the spaniel in Lanchester. The Wrights are a well known family around here. They think they’re gangsters”.

“All five were involved. The brothers are vile but against men they’re nothing. That’s why they went after an animal.”

“I know people who’ve known John Wright for years and know it was him. Most people don’t want anything to do with him now”.

“They made threats they were going to behead [Orrin Clennell’s] dogs and send him a photo”.

“Most of the five that are pictured are also police informers, so can’t see anything happening to them, sorry to say.”

“I’ve been told that apparently John Wright was having chew with someone and he was supposed to have beheaded their two Rottweilers and put them in the hanging baskets at the front of their house.”

“Burnhope people will not post because they are scared of what they would do. Over the years they have made people move out of Burnhope. They have thrown paint at their windows, set fire to a car with a dog in it years ago, selling drugs, fraud and they get away with it.”

“I know [the Burdon brothers] really well. They are vile horrible people and bragging about it. But they will get let off. They always do. Their mam is a police informant so they will get let off with it”.

John Wright’s ‘defence’

After we received word that John Wright had been seen driving around with a poster of a hot dog stuck to his truck after Lucky had died, we decided to ‘reach out’ to him.

We asked him whether the fact that he was gloating so publicly about Lucky’s brutal killing was an admission of guilt. He told us this: “I got the blame for the posters so I’m getting the blame for the dog. If I was guilty of the posters, that’s one thing. Burning a dog alive is sick mate. It’s a massive step up, wouldn’t you say?”

Consider us unconvinced, Mr Wright.

Wright didn’t help his case when a few weeks after the attack on Lucky and while the police investigation was still ongoing, he published a series of sinister photos to social media showing him holding a black spaniel puppy, who he claimed was his:

The first photo was captioned: “Lucky for me I got the last one. Proper love my new pal. I need to pick a name. Any ideas?” Wright’s use of the word ‘lucky’ here is of course no coincidence, neither is the fact that the dog used in this sick photo opportunity is the same breed and colour as Lucky.

A second photo showed Wright, an unsettling grin on his face, with the same puppy. This time she was wearing a big red bow round her neck almost identical to that worn by Lucky in the widely shared photo of her before she was attacked. This image was captioned “Off down Chester Park [actually Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street] with my little girl”.

It’s unknown whether Wright still has this puppy, but for Operation Frankish his blatant mocking of the incident and investigation was the final straw. They posted one of the photographs on their Facebook page and publicly named John Wright as the chief suspect for the first time.

Protesting his innocence in the comments Wright said: “I have never hurt any animals in my life. I’ve been slated up and down the country for something I didn’t do, so yeah I got myself a dog. It’s not illegal to get myself a dog. It’s not illegal to put a bow tie on it and if I want to call it Lucky I will. I haven’t been arrested for this offence yet, another lie you told about me. You have named and shamed me for something I didn’t do, now you clowns expect me to roll over and say nothing back 😂. I’ll be walking her daily down Chester Park. Anyone welcome to come say your bit.”

He added: “I know I’m innocent and I’ve lay down and took it long enough. Now everyone can watch just how much love I give to my dog. I don’t care what anyone says. I can’t get in trouble for getting myself a dog. People actually cross the street with their dog when they see me coming  like I’m John the Ripper, so until people actually open their eyes and see it wasn’t me I’m just going to continue on my path. Thank you.”

Wright even claimed that his various physical deficiencies strengthened his claims of innocence. He wrote: “I’m 5 foot 7 on a good day, 11 and a half stone, one leg, two snapped arms … suppose I jumped over a 6 foot fence too and carried a dog out did I? You clowns make me laugh 😂.”

Finally he wrote in defence of himself and the other suspects: “We got the finger pointed at us because we don’t get on with the owners, but FFS that doesn’t make us killers. Call me what you want. I’ve been slated nonstop since it happened, so yeah I’m fighting fire with fire [another interesting choice of words] and I’m doing what I want with my life and my dog.”

Outcome of the police investigation | ‘No Further Action’

In April 2023 two police officers attended Angela Clennell at her home with disappointing news: no one was to be prosecuted in relation to Lucky’s death due to a lack of evidence.

The investigation had included CCTV trawls at several locations, following up on tip-offs and forensic examination of the ligature used to secure Lucky.

Ultimately though the evidence gathered wasn’t compelling enough to charge anyone.

If significant new evidence comes to light, the case may be reopened.

Anyone with any information should call Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident reference 467 of July 27 or via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Conclusion

The remorseless callous psychopaths who felt justified in subjecting a defenceless dog to an agonising death to settle a score belong behind bars, not in our communities. And yet they are free, no doubt laughing their heads off because they got away with it.

This pathetic outcome for a truly heinous act will only empower the perpetrators to commit more violent crime, harming people’s feelings of safety in their community.

It’s truly depressing that so many potential witnesses felt intimidated or even terrorised into silence by these men. So scared that not even a £10,000 reward could entice them to speak up.

This is not an acceptable conclusion to the case, least of all for Lucky, the innocent victim of an act of pure unmitigated evil by a group of men with a grudge.

Lucky whom Angela described as “a really lovely natured dog … always happy and wagging her tail” mattered and she deserved better.