CONVICTED (2024) | greeder Robert Guy, born 27 September (tbc), of 17 Ballyfore Gardens, Newtownabbey BT36 6XY – severely neglected two dogs in his care; breached a previous ban for similar offences.
Charges were brought against serial dog abuser Robert Guy by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 2011.
An investigation was conducted in August 2023 by a local authority Animal Welfare Officer after receiving a report that Guy had dogs on his property, with indications suggesting the dogs had attacked each other.
Upon inspection, officers discovered two dogs with fur loss, filthy ears and puncture wounds.
A veterinarian confirmed that one dog was suffering from putrid wounds, while the other had very short cropped ears. Furthermore, both animals had visible skin lesions and were in a filthy state. Both dogs were treated for their injuries and condition, and were both successfully rehomed.
Guy was found to have breached a disqualification order imposed in November 2021, which prohibited him from keeping dogs for seven years.
Sentencing | four-month custodial suspended for 12 months. 15-year disqualification ban preventing Guy from owning dogs.
CONVICTED (2024) | Nicola O’Neill, born 10 February 1984, and James McWilliams, born c. 2003, of Felden Place, Newtownabbey BT36 7FL – for the neglect and starvation of nine filthy bull-terriers who resorted to eating another already dead dog.
Evil backyard breeders James McWilliams and Nicola O’Neill abandoned 10 dogs with one being eaten by the others after dying
Mother and son Nicola O’Neill and James McWilliams admitted failures to ensure the needs of the severely malnourished animals were met but blamed a lack of money.
In March 2022 an animal welfare officer from Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council attended the family home on the outskirts of north Belfast to investigate a report that a dead dog was being eaten by others.
The officer discovered a mixture of puppies and full-grown dogs, some severely underweight and kept in filthy pens without access to bedding or water.
“Through the fencing she could see a dead dog on the ground that appeared to be half-eaten,” prosecution counsel said.
Five pups, believed to be American XL Bully breeds, were being held in a crate in the kitchen area, covered in urine and faeces and with their ribs and spines clearly visible.
Some other dogs were in the back garden, close to the dead bull terrier.
Based on post-mortem examination and a lack of blood spattering on the ground, prosecutors believe he had already died when the others began to eat the remains.
All nine surviving dogs were seized and examined by the Council’s vet.
McWilliams later told the welfare officer he did not usually live at the property, but had previously helped his mother take care of the dogs.
He also claimed they were struggling for money to feed the animals.
Counsel added: “Before this incident he was advertising six-week old American XL Bully pups for sale on Facebook, believed to be the five puppies that were seized at the time.
With the costs of caring for the remaining animals now in excess of £2,000, they are all still alive and have gained significant weight since their seizure.
Defence barrister Jonathan Browne acknowledged the circumstances were “deeply unpleasant”.
“Any right-thinking member of the public will find the facts truly abhorrent,” he said.
Mr Browne told the court the dogs had belonged to O’Neill’s late husband James McWilliams Sr – a prominent member of paramilitary group the Irish National Liberation Army. The court heard that he lived elsewhere but visited every day to tend to the dogs.
After McWilliams Sr’s sudden death in August 2021 O’Neill “neglected to look after the dogs”.
He added that James McWilliams Jr had an emotional bond with the animals and felt that giving them away would be a disservice to his late father’s memory.
“It’s a romantic notion, but in reality it costs money,” Mr Browne submitted.
“He found himself wanting to care for them but financially not able to.”
Urging District Judge George Conner not to send either defendant to jail, Mr Browne predicted they will carry the stigma of offences with them for the rest of their lives.
Judge Conner told them: “For those who enter a responsibility to look after animals, a very high standard (is required).
“Unfortunately in this case you both failed very badly.”
Sentencing |
Nicola O’Neill: four-month custodial suspended for a year; £250 towards costs. James McWilliams: 100 hours of community service; £599 costs. Both are banned from keeping dogs for 10 years.
CONVICTED (2023) | Zara Doherty, born 20 June 1992, of Glenvarna Drive, Newtownabbey, BT36 but with links to West Belfast – left her pet dog and cat unattended in a property for several days.
Pets belonging to Zara Doherty had to be rescued by local authority animal welfare officers after she abandoned them
Proceedings against Doherty, a heroin addict, were brought by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 2011. Doherty was convicted in her absence after failing to attend court.
The council’s animal welfare officer visited the property on the Glenvarna estate in January 2023 and, after ascertaining that no one had tended to the needs of the animals for several days, carried out an abandonment procedure.
Zara Doherty’s pets Bella and Loki. The supposed ex-junkie has a history of pets in her care going ‘missing’
The officer executed a warrant and witnessed an underweight dog, thought to be a German Shepherd/Rottweiler crossbreed named Bella, and a young cat called Loki, locked in a room with no access to food and water. The area was dirty with faeces and urine present on the floors. A council vet advised removal of the animals from the property.
Sentencing | three-month suspended prison sentence; a total of £433.14 towards legal/court costs, vet expenses and boarding fees. Laughable two-year ban on keeping animals (expires November 2025).
CONVICTED (2022) | April Louise Thomas, born 30 April 1994, of Thornhill Parade, Ballyclare BT39 9RE- filmed herself hitting and throttling a cat.
Mother-of-two April Thomas, who has links to Larne and Croydon, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a cat.
In May 2021 Belfast City Council received a complaint about an act of animal cruelty at Thomas’s home. A video clip sent with the complaint showed Thomas grab a white cat from a crate and hold it up by the neck.
In the footage she appeared to apply pressure in a strangling motion while shouting: “See this weak neck. Shut up.”
A council solicitor said “She then strikes the cat on the head and face and calls the cat names.”
The animal, who does not belong to Thomas, could be seen grasping and moving her jaws in pain before being shut back into the crate.
District Judge George Conner was told the incident had been reported after Thomas sent the video to a relative.
A vet who examined the clip confirmed the cat would have suffered from being choked and struck.
Thomas initially denied the allegations until she was shown footage. At that stage she claimed the cat had bitten her.
Animal welfare officers subsequently located the pet and returned her to her owner, who received an improvement notice not to leave her with Thomas again. During interviews she claimed to have given the cat “a smack because it wouldn’t shut up and attacked me”.
A photograph of an alleged bite mark on her hand was also produced. Thomas acknowledged her behaviour had been inappropriate but stated that she suffers from depression.
Defence barrister Paul Burns acknowledged the seriousness of an incident he argued had lasted “a couple of seconds”.
Stressing his client’s previous clear record, he told the court her IQ has been assessed in the bottom one percent of the general population.
“She is clearly a lady with very significant anxiety and various other difficulties,” Mr Burns added.
Sentencing | 80 hours of community service. £172 in costs. Banned from keeping cats for 10 years. The order prohibits Thomas from keeping cats, from looking after cats or being involved in anything to do with cats.
CONVICTED (2021) | David Blair, born 12 August 1977, of 23 Ballycraigy Park, Newtownabbey BT36 5XF – for the extreme neglect and starvation of two dogs found malnourished in insanitary conditions.
Blair pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a pug-type dog named Toto and a mastiff-type dog known as Skye and failing to ensure their welfare.
The charges were brought by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 2011.
During a visit to Blair’s home in January 2020 the council’s animal welfare officer discovered the two severely malnourished dogs living in a room with faeces and blood on the floor. Maggots were observed under the dogs’ food dish and the rear garden was covered in dog faeces.
The dogs were taken into the council’s possession and transported to the council vet for examination. Toto was given a body condition score of 1/5 and weighed only 5.7kg while Skye weighed just 26kg and her body condition was given a score of 0/5.
In addition to their poor body conditions, both dogs were living in unacceptable conditions and were certified as suffering.
Fed a proper diet, Skye’s weight increased to 34.7kg while Toto’s increased to 8.1kg.
It was determined that the dogs could have died without the council’s intervention.
Sentencing: seven months in jail for causing unnecessary suffering with an additional four months for failing to ensure the welfare of these dogs, to be served concurrently. Ordered to pay £200 in costs. Disqualified from keeping animals for 10 years (expires October 2031).
CONVICTED (2019) | backyard breeder and wildlife persecutor Robert Milliken, born 25 May 1986, of Rathkyle, Antrim BT41 1LQ – for the wilful neglect of four dogs.
Father-of-three Robert Milliken was charged with causing unnecessary suffering to four dogs – two hounds and two Patterdale terriers kept in pens at a property in Ballyutoag Hill in Crumlin.
Lawyers for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, who brought the case, confirmed that a complaint had been received about dogfighting and living conditions relating to the animals.
When a visit was made to the property, 13 dogs were found across three pens.
In one pen, there was a terrier-type dog with a wound to his lip while a second pen containing seven dogs was riddled with faeces.
In the third pen, there was a terrier and four underweight hounds. One dog had a swollen muzzle which was bloody.
The court heard that a vet attended and determined that the two terriers and two of the hounds were suffering and should be seized.
On a subsequent visit to the premises inspectors were met with a strong smell of urine. Two dogs were running loose. One of them was described as pot-bellied with swollen glands while the other was underweight.
No water or food was available to the dogs and when offered water one of the dogs drank so much she vomited.
These dogs were also seized.
Milliken’s lawyer told the court that his client was an animal lover who had kept dogs for many years. He had, however, lost stability in his life after the breakdown of his marriage and had been “bingeing on drugs”.
He told the court that his client – a trained butcher who had struggled to find work – had been sentenced on three years in prison in 2009 for an unrelated, unspecified crime and was terrified of going back to jail.
He urged the judge to consider his client’s circumstances when arriving at her judgement.
District Judge Oonagh Mullan was unconvinced, however, describing photos of the animals as ‘horrendous’ before she lamented the ‘suffering they must have undergone and the conditions they were living with’. She added that Milliken’s treatment of his dogs amounted to “willful neglect”.
After rising to consider her options, District Judge Mullan suspended the operation of the four-month sentences for three years and imposed the ban and order for costs.
Sentencing: four-month suspended prison sentence. Costs of £349. Banned from keeping animals for ten years.
CONVICTED (2019) | Angela Michelle McMullan, born 12 August 1971, Ballyearl Way, Newtownabbey BT36 5BZ – starved a dog found in a skeletal state at her home.
Mother-of-three Angela McMullan pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to her pet dog. The charge was brought against McMullan by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 2011.
Council Animal Welfare Officers attended the property on April 9, 2019 following reports of concerns for a dog. On initial examination of the unnamed dog they contacted the council vet to attend.
The unnamed dog’s ribs, spine and pelvic bones were clearly visible.
A vet who examined the dog advised he was a very thin Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross with his ribs, spine and pelvic bones clearly visible. The vet gave the dog a body score of 1/5 which was deemed excessively thin.
The dog also had fur loss along his tail, head and muzzle. The vet stated the dog was suffering and advised removal.
The dog was voluntarily signed over to the council and successfully re-homed
Sentencing | two-year conditional discharge. Ordered to pay costs of £437.75. Disqualified from keeping or caring for any animals for 10 years (expires December 2029).
CONVICTED (2019) | Andrew McAuley, born c. 1961, of Braepark Road, Ballyclare BT39 9SX – kept several dogs in filthy, freezing conditions with no access to food or water.
Dogs found at property owned by Andrew Mcauley of Ballyclare, Northern Ireland.
In a case brought by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, McAuley was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering and failure to ensure the welfare of four dogs that were in his care.
Two dogs were found inside a car that was covered in snow in sub-zero conditions, steeped in urine, soiled with dog faeces and contained bird carcasses. Council’s animal welfare officer described the smell as “unbearable”.
A beagle that was tied up in a confined outhouse alongside dead bird and pig carcasses was also removed. Another dog was found roaming on site. All the dogs had no access to fresh water, food and were living in poor conditions.
An application for a Disposal Order in respect of a second case involving McAuley was also heard. This order was granted in respect of 17 dogs being held in the care of the council, for which new homes have now been identified with assistance of local charities.
Sentencing | eight-month jail sentence suspended for three years; costs of £217. Banned from keeping animals for 15 years.
#MostEvil | Aleshia Frances McLaverty, born 10/01/1992, of 226 Islandbawn Drive, Antrim BT41 1JE – abandoned a five-month-old puppy in a flat, where his starved body was found hanging from blinds
McLaverty admitted a charge of cruelty after the body of the maggot-infested Labrador cross, known as Sam, was discovered by shocked animal welfare officers at a flat registered to her in the Greystone estate in Antrim.
She pleaded guilty to charges of permitting unnecessary pain or distress to a dog under her control and being the keeper of a dog without a valid licence.
Victim Sam died a horrible death through dehydration and starvation after being abandoned by Aleshia McLaverty
Deputy District Judge Chris Holmes said pictures he was shown in the case were “the worst photos I have ever seen of cruelty to an animal”.
Malcolm Irvine, prosecuting on behalf of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, said after receiving a report from a member of the public about a dead dog at a property, animal welfare officers gained entry to the Firmount Drive address in April 2014 to be met with a “pungent” smell and a house full of flies with floors covered with dog faeces.
Sam was found dead hanging upside down from a blind cord with maggots in his mouth and eyes.
Mr Irvine said there was no food and the toilet bowl was dry suggesting the dog had drank from it and there were scratch marks on packets of food consistent with the dog trying to find something to eat.
A post mortem revealed Sam died of dehydration and starvation. He was likely in his death throes as he tried to jump through a window in a last gasp bid to escape but then became entangled on a blind.
During interviews McLaverty first said the dog belonged to her sister and that she herself did not live in the house as she had gone to stay with her mother but later in court she pleaded guilty to the offences.
Defence barrister Aaron Thompson said it was a “tragic case of passive neglect” and said the house was registered to McLaverty but she took nothing to do with it and her sister had lived in the address at some stage.
He said although McLaverty owned the dog she did not have direct control of him and the house was “abandoned”. He said she had not lived there for some time and the dog was trapped in the house when she became pregnant and went to live with her mother.
He said it was the sort of tragic case which “captures the ire of the community” and he said McLaverty, who now lives with her partner and their child, was “very emotional and distressed” and came to the court with a “good character” and with a clear record.
By her guilty plea he said she accepted she knew the dog was in the house and “effectively did nothing about it”.
Suspending a two months jail term for two years, District Judge Alan White said he had to give credit for the guilty plea and her clear record and the fact she has a “new baby”.
In the Greystone estate, local people expressed their disgust at the death of the dog.
One resident who did not wish to be named, who had seen inside the house, said: “It was disgrace what happened to that dog, we believe it was trying to escape through the window when it became entangled and there were tufts of hair left on the blinds and the house was full of dog faeces”
Sentencing: two-month jail term, suspended for two years Banned from keeping animals for just five years (expired August 2020).
CONVICTED (2014) | Robert James Mcaleenan, born c. 1959, and son Conor Mcaleenan, born 21 February 1986, of 210 Lisnevenagh Road, Antrim BT41 2JT – jailed for a catalogue of animal cruelty offences against dozens of horses, ponies and donkeys
Robert and Conor Mcaleenan were jailed for allowing horses and ponies to suffer horrifically
Travellers Robert and Conor Mcaleenan were jailed after police discovered a ‘scene of horror’ at their farm, with decomposing dead horses among those still alive.
The case was triggered by a tip-off from a member of the public. The scene that confronted vets and PSNI officers on November 22, 2011, was one of horror.
Conor Mcaleenan
Cruel horse traders Robert and Conor Mcaleenan from Antrim
They were faced with an overpowering stench of dead animals which had been dumped in a heap on the farm, with numerous other standing around in filth, starving and left to fend for themselves.
Conor Mcaleenan
One vet said: “The scale of what I saw was unbelievably large. The father and son had fundamentally failed to protect the animals, failed to address the most basic health and husbandry requirements.
“Some of the animals were in such a pitiful state of suffering that they had to be euthanised on humane grounds.”
Robert Mcaleenan
Judge Desmond Marrinan told the Mcaleenans: “This is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty that I have encountered and you should be thoroughly ashamed of your callous behaviour.”
The judge said he was unimpressed by the men’s defence and found no substance in claims the pair had not set out to deliberately cause suffering or distress to the animals.
He told the court the case photographs were “horrific… almost unbelievable”, and said: “The evidence bore testimony to the fact they treated these poor animals in a pitiless manner without the slightest regard for their welfare. In my view they are unfit to be carers for any animal.”
Sentencing: Conor Mcaleenan, who had owned the animals, was jailed for 14 months.
Robert James Mcaleenan, who owns the farm between Antrim and Ballymena, was given nine months.
The pair were banned from keeping animals for 25 years.
In January 2018 the Mcaleenans reappeared in court accused of breaching their ban on keeping animals. The outcome of their latest court case is unknown, however.
We collate data on animal cruelty convictions in the UK
