CONVICTED (2023) | heroin street dealer Anthony Brown, born c. 1999, previously of London but now of Comyn Gardens, St Ann’s, Nottingham NG3 1NY – stole an XL Bully puppy to service a drug debt and threatened to stab a second dog.

Alex Wolfson, prosecuting, said the victim’s sister had amassed a drug debt, which Brown, previously of Red Lane, South Normanton, Derbyshire, claimed was around £5,000. . He said on April 24, 2022, she was at her home with five children and her door was unlocked.

The prosecutor said: “At one point, shortly after 7pm, the defendant opened the door and walked into the living room and she heard him say ‘Oi’. She immediately said back ‘What’s up’ and he replied that she needed to ring her sister.

“She said ‘Why what’s happened?’ and he was pacing around and took a lock knife out of his pocket and opened it to show her the blade. She said ‘no, not in here please there are kids let’s walk outside’ and the defendant said ‘I will stab everyone up in here’.”

Mr Wolfson said at that point the victim’s dog started to bark and Brown said “I am going to stab the dog up” and was still pacing around. He said: “He went to a dog cage in the corner of the room and asked her if it was her puppy and she said it was.

“He took the dog and left with it saying she could have it back when her sister had paid him the money she owed him. At that point, she locked the door and phoned her dad.”

Mr Wolfson said a short time later, the father was at home and tried to ring the daughter who owed the money but was unsuccessful in getting through to her. He said the father’s phone then rang with a number he did not recognise and he answered it.

The prosecutor said: “The voice on the end of the phone said ‘I am a black lad, I’m from London and she owes me £5,000 and where I come from if we don’t get payment we go to the next family members’.

“The dad said ‘you have got the dog it’s worth £2,000’ and the defendant replied ‘if we don’t get paid in a week I will kill the dog’.”

Brown pleaded guilty to blackmail, possession of a bladed article and possession of cannabis from when he was arrested.

His criminal record stretches back to when he was a juvenile and includes two previous offences for carrying weapons, theft and possession with intent to supply drugs.

Steve Cobley, mitigating, said his client had been moved by his family from London to the East Midlands in an attempt to steer him away from criminality.

He said: “The incident was short-lived but it was nasty. His mother is elsewhere but his father continues to support him and he uses drugs to numb the pain of his past experiences.”

Jailing Brown for four years, Judge Martin Hurst said: “She was understandably absolutely terrified, not just for herself but the children, because a strange man she did not know simply walked into her house. You noticed the puppy in the corner and took it hostage.

“You threatened to firebomb the house and kill the dog you had stolen. You moved from London to get away from this kind of trouble but what you have seemed to do is bring it with you to Derbyshire.”

It’s not been reported if the stolen dog was recovered.

Nottingham Post