Tag Archives: 2011 cases

Torrington, Devon: Diana Curtis

CONVICTED (2024) | serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis, born c. 1958, of Peters Marland, Torrington EX38 8QD – neglected dozens of animals in her care.

Serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

Curtis, a notorious animal hoarder well-known to the RSPCA and courts, was given a suspended custodial sentence and laughable five-year ban after horses, dogs, chickens, ducks and a goat were found in squalor at her home.

Animals abused and neglected by serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

RSPCA inspectors were joined by police, vets, staff from the Dog’s Trust and officers from Torridge District Council, at the address in July 2022. They found a number of animals, some left without food, water or the vet care they needed.

A stallion, named Mid Morning Monkey, was found with an eye ulcer; checks with vets showed he’d been left with no treatment. Two other horses, named Symphonies Secret and Summer’s Place Jessica, were both found to have untreated dental disease.

Animals abused and neglected by serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

Summer’s Place Jessica also had deformed legs and swollen knees. She had an uneven gait and was regularly seen tripping – particularly on her right fore leg. A vet later diagnosed chronic arthritis which had been left untreated.

The stables, which also housed a female goat alongside horses, were dirty with faeces and soiled straw. There was no clean bedding and no hay, food or water available.

Animals abused and neglected by serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

Poultry, which was found standing in pens thick with faeces and soiled bedding with dirty water and no food, were also found to have untreated scaly leg. Inside the address, rescuers found more unsuitable living conditions for animals.

RSPCA deputy chief inspector Suzy Hannaby said: “The property was filthy and appeared to have been used as a dog kennel rather than for human habitation, the floors were bare and the only furniture present was for storage.

“There were no chairs or human beds. There was a strong smell of ammonia in the downstairs of the property. There were dog faeces and soiled straw and shavings on the floor, pieces of wooden board, dirty dog beds and two empty crates. There was no food or water available.”

Following an RSPCA prosecution Curtis was convicted of eight offences, some after trial.

Sentencing | 16-week custodial, suspended for 12 months; £10,000 towards costs plus £154 victim surcharge. FIVE-year ban (expires December 2028).

DevonLive


In October 2010 Curtis was given an ASBO due to excessive noise from 100 dogs kept at her property. She pleaded guilty to a noise abatement offence. She was also fined £2,000.

Police officers and animal welfare officers were forced to remove all but six of the dogs from Curtis after she failed to adhere to a court order to do so.

Following Curtis’s conviction, Devon & Cornwall Police Inspector Andy Lilburn said there was “no suggestion of cruelty here whatsoever”, adding that the dogs were “healthy, well-cared for, fed and watered”.

Curtis said she intended appealing the decision but said that “most of the dogs will have been destroyed by the time I raise the money”.

Following the appeal hearing in November 2010, she was ultimately given permission to keep 14 animals.


In December 2011 a further 34 dogs as well as 14 horses were seized from Curtis. After pleading guilty to breaching her ASBO, she was told she could only have a maximum of six dogs.

The RSPCA said at the time they were considering if any animal welfare offences had been committed and whether to prosecute.


In June 2013 Curtis was given a community sentence of 240 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £27,000 in court costs after keeping 33 horses and 34 dogs in appalling conditions.

Animals abused and neglected by serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

Officials from the RSPCA found the premises to be covered in faeces and littered with hazards.

The court heard there was no outside grazing available and virtually no food and animals had to eat part of a stinging nettle bush.

Animals abused and neglected by serial animal hoarder Diana Curtis from Torrington, Devon.

Prosecutor Iain O’Donnell said: ‘Thirty-four dogs were removed from the premises. Photographs show the disgusting conditions in which they were living.’

Curtis was only banned from keeping horses and for a mere 12 months.

Daily Mail

Great Ayton / Stokesley, North Yorkshire: John Langan and Thomas McDonald

CONVICTED (2021) | serial wildlife persecutor John Alan Langan, born June 1986, of 12 The Hawthorns, Great Ayton, Middlesbrough TS9 6BA and Thomas Agar McDonald, born c. 1986, most recently of Riverside Nurseries, Stokesley, Middlesbrough TS9 5JQ – caught hare coursing.

Thomas Agar McDonald

On the afternoon of Saturday 23 January 2021, a vigilant member of the public called police to report that poachers were chasing hares with a dog in a field near Chapel Haddlesey, Selby.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police attended immediately. The suspects made off from the area in this Honda CR-V, and in the process drove through a red light. Officers followed them, and stopped them in South Milford, where they were both arrested, and their dog and car seized.

In court, Thomas McDonald, a convicted drug dealer, and John Alan Langan, who has racked up numerous similar offences, both pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs. McDonald also admitted an offence of failing to comply with a road traffic sign.

McDonald was fined a total of £239 for the hunting offence, as well as £100 and three points for going through the red light. Langan was fined £239 for the hunting offence, a forfeiture order was placed on the dog, and he was disqualified for five years from owning, keeping or being in control of dog.

Gazette Live


John Langan’s previous convictions:

In February 2018 John Langan was convicted of hare coursing alongside Tommy Jaffray from Thorntree in east Middlesbrough, a member of an organised crime gang currently serving a 13-year prison sentence for drug dealing.

Tommy Jaffray
Tommy Jaffray

In September 2017 Langan and Jaffray were spotted hare coursing by Lincolnshire Police

The court heard that Langan had previously been made subject to an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) for similar offences.

In March 2010, he was arrested in Bridlington and charged with hunting a wild mammal with dogs.

He was found to be involved in a high number of other incidents of poaching and hare coursing between 2005 and 2010.

The ASBO lasted for three years, but he was again caught in the cruel act and fined at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court .

Two lurcher dogs, called Lucky and Spencer (pictured above), were seized and later rehomed.

Both Langan and Jaffray were fined £120 and ordered to pay £300 costs and £30 charges.

Both received driving bans and were given criminal behaviour orders (CBO).

Chief superintendent Mark Housley of Lincolnshire Police said: “We’ve waited for a result like this for some time but I’m very pleased now we have got it.

“Here in Lincolnshire we know that by seizing dogs we stop people wanting to come here for hare coursing, and it also prevents all the violence towards farmers and the damage to their property that goes with it.

“People living in urban areas wouldn’t believe how bad this is – it’s soul destroying for farmers and their families, many of who I know have struggled to sleep at night because of threats made by hare coursers.

“The welfare of the dogs is also very important to us.

“Only a week ago we came across a dog that had been left in a field to die as the hare coursers left her so they could escape from police officers.

“Our officers were horrified to see she had been fatally struck on her head.

“We will continue to make every effort to tackle this cruel and supposed ‘sport’, and get the animals into the caring home a dog should have.”

Gazette Live

Blackpool, Lancashire: Robert Payne

#MostEvil | former Keighley Bradford councillor Robert John Payne, born 14 February 1975,  most recently (2022) of 21 Bethel Avenue, Bispham, Blackpool FY2 9SA – killed four kittens by swinging them and smashing them into walls

Psychopath: Former councillor Robert John Payne, who subjected four kittens to a brutal sadistic attack.
Psychopath: Former councillor Robert John Payne, who subjected four kittens to a brutal sadistic attack.

Robert Payne  swung the four-month-old cats round his house in Keighley, West Yorkshire, broke their skulls and most of their limbs, and decapitated two of them.

The cowardly former councillor for the Keighley West Ward of Bradford Council then kept three of the poor creatures in his freezer while their blood was spread round his house and their remains strewn across his living room.

Payne flew into a drunken rage and attacked the four kittens he had bought off the internet. He then ‘picked up one of the cats by its stomach and used it as a battering ram’ and ‘smashed its head against something’.

Police were eventually called to his house after a neighbour reported hearing banging and the sound of a cat screaming.

Officers were confronted by the horrific scene of dismembered animal parts scattered over the house, along with blood on the walls at shoulder height from where he had swung the injured kittens around the room.

Stephen Wood, prosecuting, told the court: ‘The police went inside and they were met with what the prosecution submit was an appalling scene, with fragments of dismembered parts of animals over the house, together with a substantial quantity of blood.’

The barrister said the pattern of blood on the walls suggested a ‘profusely’ bleeding cat had been swung around the room.

He said officers also found fragments of bone, an eyeball and part of a jaw with the tongue still attached on the living room floor.

Three of the kittens were found in a freezer and the fourth was found decapitated upstairs. Its head was never found.

The skulls of the other cats had all been crushed and nearly every limb had been fractured.

Mr Wood said: ‘Prior to their deaths, these kittens had been subjected to unimaginable cruelty.

‘The blood was contorted around the entirety of the room in a circular fashion, at shoulder height.’

Payne told police he was not ‘100%’ sure what had happened but said it was ‘more than likely’ he had killed them.

Judge Robert Bartfield rejected Payne’s claim that he couldn’t remember the attack taking place and labelled him a ‘coward’.

Sentencing Payne, Judge Bartfield said: ‘For some reason, you decided to take your frustrations out on these innocent creatures who looked to you for their care.

‘You had killed three of them in circumstances which for them can only have been in the most unimaginable terror.

‘Each of them was swung round the room deliberately, no doubt as to cause the maximum distress, and all of them had their skulls broken.’

Judge Bartfield continued: ‘The police and RSPCA were greeted by the most horrific scene, with the living room spread about with the remains of these unfortunate creatures.’

The judge said people feeling ‘revulsion’ at the case would wonder why Payne was not being sent to prison for years.

But he said he was bound by sentencing guidelines, which state a maximum prison term of six months for such an offence.

Bespectacled Payne stood in the dock with his hands clasped in front of him and showed no expression as he was jailed.

Sentence: jailed for five months and banned from keeping animals for life.

Daily Mail

Gabalfa, Cardiff: Matthew Blagbrough

CONVICTED (2011) | Matthew Blagbrough of 177 Mynachdy Road, Cardiff CF14 3HL – repeatedly punched a young puppy in the face to reprimand her

Puppy abuser Matthew Blagbrough from Cardiff

On 28 November 2011 Matthew Blagbrough was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to the 12-week-old Staffordshire bull terrier, known as Molly.

Eyewitnesses, which included friends of Blagbrough, told the court they had seen Blagbrough grab Molly, who belonged to Blagbrough’s girlfriend, by the scruff of the neck and punch her repeatedly with his clenched right fist. The witnesses challenged him. The dog then broke loose and Blagbrough chased her up an alleyway.

Molly's injuries included facial swelling
Young Staffy Molly suffered a catalogue of injuries at the hands of violent Matthew Blagbrough

The court was told that the dog was taken to a vet the following day by the RSPCA and was found to be suffering facial swelling and bloodshoot eyes.

The vet said: “It didn’t look like the sort of injury caused by a routine trip or a puppyhood accident. It is my opinion that the injuries were consistent with this animal having been punched.”

Puppy abuser Matthew Blagbrough from Cardiff pictured outside court in November 2011

Blagbrough denied punching the pup, saying: ““She was a 12-week-old puppy – why would I want to attack her?”

He claimed that the dog’s injuries were caused when he slipped and fell on top of her as he was chasing her.

The court did not accept Blagbrough’s version of events and found him guilty of causing unnecessary suffering.

Sentence: six-week prison sentence, suspended for two years. 200 hours’ unpaid work; costs of £1,200; banned from keeping any animal for just two years (ban expired 2013).

WalesOnline
Shropshire Star
BBC News

Torquay, Devon: Gina Robins

#MostEvil | Gina Marie Robins, born 16/09/1980 of 29 Collaton Road, Torquay TQ2 7HH – microwaved a neighbour’s kitten to death in a vile act of revenge

Kitten killer Gina Robins

In 2011 Gina Robins shut a 10-week-old kitten in the microwave oven and switched it on. The kitten’s owner, Robins’ neighbour Sarah Knutton, heard a loud popping sound like an exploding bag of crisps before a ‘horrendous screeching noise’.

Miss Knutton went into the kitchen and found the black and white kitten dead in the microwave.

She said: ‘I was in a state of shock. Gina stared at me. She didn’t say anything. She just stared at me.’

The next day Robins sent Miss Knutton a text which read: ‘Remember the saying “what goes around comes around?” It has started already to bite you in the ****. The cat? Karma.’

Robins had denied a charge of causing unnecessary suffering. She claimed the kitten jumped up onto a worktop and other cats started fighting and shut the kitten in the microwave which then started up.

But prosecutor Iain O’Donnell, for the RSPCA, said it was ‘implausible’ the kitten had crawled into the oven and another cat had knocked the door shut, activating the appliance.

Vet Robert Cameron said the ‘kitten would have suffered prior to death’. He said its claws and ears – where there was no fur – were both reddened and its claws were clenched in fear. A post-mortem examination concluded that the kitten died from microwave radiation and there were ‘no other potential causes of death’.

Robins was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to the kitten and sent to prison for 168 days.

Magistrates noted her complete lack of remorse as they sentenced her.

Sentencing: 168 days in jail. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years (expired December 2021).

BBC News
Daily Mail

Taunton, Somerset: Robert Humphries

#MostEvil | Robert Humpries, born c. 1971, of Roman Road, Taunton TA1 2BH – slit the throat of his puppy and left her to bleed to death.

Evil Robert Humphries used two kitchen knives to kill six-month-old Shadow (pictured) before dumping her bloodied body in a wheelie bin.

Humphries, a former abattoir butcher, slit the six-month-old female lurcher’s throat and then stabbed her repeatedly between the ribs.

A vet estimated it would have taken up to 30 minutes for the dog, called Shadow, to die.

When the RSPCA arrived at his home in Roman Road they found Shadow with her legs tied together in a plastic bag dumped in a wheelie bin.

Humphries appeared before the court in a wheelchair having fractured both his ankles.

Neil Scott, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told magistrates that Humphries had gone to a vet on the morning of June 28, 2011, wanting Shadow rehomed or put down, claiming she had attacked his 19-month-old daughter.

Vets told him that it would cost £70 to have to the dog put down and another £30 for cremation.

Humphries said he did not have the money and, when he was then told it could be done free of charge, said he would come back with his pet.

However, Humphries told RSPCA officers that when he tried to walk the dog to the vets Shadow slipped her collar and attacked him and, fearing further attacks, he decided to kill the animal.

Mr Scott said there was no evidence of any injuries to show that Shadow had attacked either Humphries or his daughter.

“Mr Humphries asked his wife to pass him a kitchen knife, grabbed Shadow by the collar and started to cut Shadow’s neck,” Mr Scott said.

“The dog was crying and yelping and trying to get away. He asked her to pass him another knife, which she did.

“He then stabbed the dog in the chest with the silver-headed knife and following that stabbing the dog died.”

A post-mortem examination found the lurcher had a “large gaping wound” to the throat and stab wounds to the chest.

A vet said the dog would have been in “extreme pain”.

Humphries was interviewed later that day by the RSPCA and he told them: “I couldn’t actually slit the throat properly with the knife.

“She just cried and started to bleed out and then she crawled away and lay down on the floor.

“That’s when I finished her off – I stuck a knife between her ribs.”

Humphries admitted a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog in the attack.

Ed Boyce, defending, said that since killing Shadow Humphries had separated from his wife and was involved in a custody battle for access to his daughter.

“He co-operated in the investigation of this matter and in my submission has expressed remorse for what occurred.”

Sentencing | Jailed for five months (later reduced to 17 weeks on appeal). Banned from keeping animals for life but can appeal after 5 years.

BBC News
Daily Mail
Somerset County Gazette


Update May 2022

We have received a tip-off that Humphries is now known as Samuel Bradley and is currently living in Wedmore, Sedgemoor, Somerset. FB profiles here and here.

Stourbridge, West Midlands: Kirsty Sanson

CONVICTED (2011) | Kirsty Amanda Sanson, born 26/07/1991, most recently (2019) of 44 Oldford Walk, Stourbridge DY13 0DP – left a dog to starve to death in shed

Sanson, who now goes by the name Kirsty Woods, was prosecuted after the emaciated body of a dead dog was found in a small shed just feet away from the kitchen of the property in which she was staying

Evil dog killer Kirsty Sanson, now Kirsty Woods, of Stourbridge, West Midlands

She initially denied the charges, claiming she did not know the dog – a female Staffy named Paddy who did not belong to Sanson – was locked in the shed. The case was set to proceed to trial until Sanson changed her plea to guilty.

Sentence: community order, fines, two-year ban on keeping animals (expired December 2013).

Kidderminster Shuttle

Bromsgrove, Worcestershire: Tracey Munden

CONVICTED (2011) | Tracey Munden (also known as Tracey Clarke), born 3 January 1972, of Lime Grove, Bromsgrove B61 8LX – left several animals to starve to death

Convicted animal abuser Tracey Munden from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK
Evil Munden locked her dogs in cages and left them to die

Following reports from concerned members of the public, RSPCA inspectors raided Munden’s former home in Hathaway Close, Dines Green, Worcester and were met with a scene of horror.

Inspectors discovered a dead Staffordshire bull terrier in a cage without any food or water, an extremely underweight bull mastiff, two chihuahuas and a Yorkshire terrier. The Yorkie was described as being “close to death”.

One of the dogs rescued from Munden's property
One of the dogs rescued from Munden’s property

An emaciated water dragon lizard that had been left in an unheated vivarium was also found.

Convicted animal abuser Tracey Munden from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK

Munden spouted the usual excuses about personal problems and depression. Thankfully the judge saw through the excuses and jailed her. Munden wept hysterically as she was handcuffed and led away.

Sentencing: 18-week prison sentence and banned from keeping animals for ten years (expired September 2021).

Worcester News

Ward End, Birmingham: Jake Soden

CONVICTED (2011) | Jake Soden, born 05/08/1991, previously of Northleigh Road, Birmingham B8 2QP (new address tbc) – caught on CCTV choking, whipping and kicking his four dogs

Dog abuser Jake Soden from Birmingham, UK

Soden was captured by his neighbour’s CCTV cameras attacking his four dogs. The unidentified neighbour passed the footage onto the RSPCA who prosecuted Soden.

Soden would launch his unprovoked attacks on his terrified dogs late at night and early in the morning when he thought no one was looking.

His neighbour said the two huskies, a brown Staffordshire terrier type dog and a black cross-breed would “freeze at every move” Soden made.

Jake Soden filmed with his dogs in 2011
Jake Soden filmed with his dogs in 2011

“The dogs were absolutely terrified,” he said. “They would cower to the ground, their tails were tucked between their legs, their ears were down.

“They would never jump around or run about, as they were too scared of him.

I always remember seeing the fear in the eyes of the brown dog during one incident.”

The abuse was first recorded as Soden walked the dogs through the snow on Boxing Day 2010.

The neighbour said: “He would repeatedly kick the dogs for no reason.

“He would whip the lead down onto their backs, pin the heads of the dogs to the floor and stand on the lead to prevent them moving, drag them along the floor by the lead and by holding their heads, and pull the lead up in the air causing the dogs to be standing on their back feet while they were being choked.

“He would also punch the dogs, and in one incident he tied three of the dogs to a lamppost, and dragged a husky behind a wall, pinned it to the ground and started punching it. Before this, he looked around to see if anyone was about.”

Jake Soden

The chairman of the magistrates said the “sheer brutality was unbelievable” and they found the number of attacks an aggravating feature of the case.

Soden pleaded guilty to five charges of failing to protect the dogs from pain, injury or fear contrary to section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Sally Case, head of prosecutions at the RSPCA, wrote to the neighbour and said: “This case was only possible because of the video footage obtained by you, and I wish to pass on my gratitude again to you for both obtaining the footage and allowing the RSPCA to use it as vital evidence of mistreatment of these animals.

“We hope that the court’s order will serve to protect animals in the future from wrong-doing of this kind.”

Sentence: 15-month community order. Lifetime ban on keeping animals.

BirminghamLive


Update June 2013

Soden was back in court after being caught flouting his life ban on keeping animals.

Nick Sutton, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: “Back in 2011 the defendant was seen on CCTV kicking and beating his terrified dogs in unprovoked attacks while walking them late at night and early in the morning when he thought he was not being seen.

“It recently came to the RSPCA’s attention that he had been filmed, again on CCTV, walking a new dog – a Jack Russell.

“It should be said that he is not seen abusing the animals, but it is a blatant breach of the ban. He is seen on CCTV on at least 10 occasions walking the dog up and down the road.”

Soden told the court the dog was owned by his mother.

“She told me to walk the dog and I didn’t understand the conditions of the ban because I’ve got learning difficulties, epilepsy, memory loss and schizophrenia,” he said.

The case was adjourned to allow the Probation Service to compile a report to recommend how Soden should be punished.

Although Soden was warned he could be looking at a prison sentence, the newspapers failed to follow up on the case.

Grimsby, North-East Lincolnshire: Johnny Bloomfield

CONVICTED (2011) | Jonathan David Bloomfield, born 25/04/1975, of Grange Walk, Grimsby DN34 4DX – caused unnecessary suffering to a Staffordshire bull terrier dog by hitting him with an object, punching and kicking him

Jonathan Bloomfield from Grimsby was filmed by a neighbour viciously punching and swearing at his 18-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier, Butch.
Jonathan Bloomfield from Grimsby was filmed by a neighbour viciously punching and swearing at his 18-month-old Staffordshire bull terrier, Butch.

On 24/11/2011  Londoner Jonathan Bloomfield, who at the time of the offence was living in Stanley Street, Grimsby, pleaded guilty to failing to protect Butch – an 18-month-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier – and causing unnecessary suffering to the dog by hitting him with an object, punching and kicking him.

The court viewed footage – filmed between September 9 and October 18, 2011 – showing Butch, who vets said may have always had sight problems or even be blind, whimpering and cowering as Bloomfield punched him twice in the face and told him to “shut the fuck up”.

Prosecuting, Brendan Woodward said: “The most important image is where he clearly comes outside and punches the dog twice to the head.

“We have seen the action and the actions are not a proper way of controlling a dog. Every time that door opened, the dog was not wagging his tail waiting to come in, it was in fear. You can see that in the reaction of the animal.”

Bloomfield claimed Butch had bitten his three-year-old son’s hand when it took a packet of crisps from him, adding he was stressed from work and was “sick of the dog barking”.

However, Bloomfield denied any involvement in the footage showing Butch being repeatedly hit with a pole, which was accepted by the prosecution because the person doing it is standing behind a door and cannot be seen on camera.

A woman in a bra and trousers with a towel on her head opens the door and appears to whip the dog with a cloth before slamming the door in its face
A woman in a bra and trousers with a towel on her head (Bloomfield’s partner Michelle Walker) opens the door and appears to whip the dog with a cloth before slamming the door in his face

Magistrates also heard Bloomfield had come under attack after refusing to hand Butch over to a man who came to his door, who then hit him in the face. A short time later an “angry mob” gathered outside Bloomfield’s house and smashed his window, before police were called to the scene.

Bloomfield was arrested and his partner, Michelle Walker, and their son and one-year-old daughter, were forced to flee their home by social services, who told them if they didn’t both children would be taken into care. Butch was taken into the care of the RSPCA.

Banning Bloomfield from owning a dog for 15 years, bench chairman, David Stenton said: “It is pretty clear to everyone this is an awful case of animal cruelty. The dog was clearly very frightened and had been subjected to violence over a period of time. Weapons were used, including piping and fists. We know you received some rough justice and we don’t condone that.”

Sentencing:
260 hours of unpaid work; £100 costs; 15-year ban on keeping dogs (expires November 2026).

Daily Mail