CONVICTED (2024) | Leah Best, born 5 August 1999, and Dean Daniel Christopher Nevin, born c. 1996, of Hughes Avenue, Prescot L5* – abandoned their dogs to die after an argument.
Peter Mitchell, prosecuting, shared photos of the couple’s Prescot flat which had been abandoned for at least two months between July and September 2023.
The RSPCA called on Merseyside Police to help gain entry to the property after dogs could be heard locked inside on September 19.
Officers found a Staffy crossbreed named Lilly with her three puppies on top of a dirty mattress surrounded by urine and faeces. The court heard that the animals were “thin” and had “obvious skin conditions” due to months on neglect.
One of the puppies was sadly found dead underneath her mum,
Mr Mitchell told the court that the six-month-old dog had been “visibly mauled” as the remaining dogs had “resorted to scavenging [her]” after she had died.
Elsewhere in the flat, RSPCA officers found that the dogs had chewed on empty tin cans as well as other bits of rubbish that was flung about the property.
An RSPCA inspector spoke to Best via her social worker, the court heard.
She claimed she had walked out of the flat and gave Lilly to “someone on the stairs” but wasn’t able to tell the investigators who that was.
Nevin was tracked down and interviewed where he accepted that he’d owned Lilly for around two years and her litter of puppies were “unplanned”.
He said that there had been a “big argument” before the couple, who have seven children between them, walked away from the property.
Defending both, Joe Bleasdale, said: “I accept this does not make for pleasant listening. It is an enormously tragic case.”
He went on to appeal to the district judge that the couple stood before him are remorseful and both “wished they had done something sooner”.
Mr Bleasdale added that the pair have been cooperating with the courts and were aware of “just how serious” the situation is.
District Judge Timothy Boswell branded what Best and Nevin subjected the animals to as “prolonged neglect”.
He said: “It seems to me that these dogs were a part of your family. You bear the responsibility to make sure they’re cared for and the pictures I’ve seen show the tragic consequences of your actions.
“These animals were left alone and hungry. Because of that one died and it is only through the work of vets that the remaining animals survived.”
He said that, despite all the evidence, he would not be sending them to prison. He said: “There are realistic prospects of rehabilitation and there would be a significant impact on your family if you were sent to prison.”
Sentencing | 26-week custodial suspended for a year. A five-year ban on keeping animals.
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*Alternative addresses:
Leah Best: Johnson Avenue, Prescot L35 5HD
Dean Nevin: Coronation Drive, Prescot L35 5ES
Make me sick with those couple 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬👺👺
We had a row and left our dogs to starve. But we are sorry ( we got caught ).
And where did the dogs come from originally? This is just as important to know to see if any checks were done on these people or their home. It won’t stop this from happening but if breeders were involved, there should be some link for at least a year after homing as to where their sold animal is. Everything is to easy. The system is negligent in its process, not to mention the paltry fines.