CONVICTED | Mark Anthony Linford, born October 1977, of Long Lane, Aston End, Stevenage SG2 7HG – broke into a woman’s home and stole her dogs before attacking them, causing fatal injuries to one.
Dog killer Mark ‘Marco’ Linford will be spending the next two-and-a-half years behind bars for his crimes
Linford, a self-employed painter/decorator trading under the name Linford’s Professional Decorating, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal as well as burglary
Essex Police were called to an address in Harlow on the afternoon of 18 September 2023 following reports of a residential burglary, where three chihuahua dogs (pictured) were stolen.
The suspect was quickly identified as Linford. He was located and arrested on suspicion of burglary.
The dogs were located later in the day.
Nacho pictured at the back alongside Lola and Parker
One dog, Nacho, was found next to the railway track at Harlow Mill. Sadly, he had to be put to sleep due to the severity of his injuries.
The other two dogs, Parker and Lola, were found close to the train tracks with serious injuries.
Linford was further arrested on suspicion of three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and later charged.
After pleading guilty to three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and burglary, he was sentenced to a total of two years and six months in prison.
Linford, who uses the first name Marco but may also go by the name Billy or Billie Linford, was also issued with a restraining order against the victim, an Animal Disqualification Order and ordered to pay compensation to the victim.
Following the sentence, the dogs’ owner said the following: “No sentence given to Mark Linford (Marco) will ever do justice for the loss of my little Nacho and the devastation it’s caused the whole family and the other two dogs.
“You never think that something so awful could ever happen to you.
“Our animals are like our children, totally innocent.”
Detective Constable Sarah Faircloth, who led the investigation said “Mark Linford made the decision to take the victim’s three defenceless dogs which goes to show what a dangerous individual he is. The anguish and heartache he has caused is irreparable, which no prison sentence will ever compensate.
“I must commend the victim for her courage throughout the investigation, her support and dedication for justice for Nacho, which in my opinion was the main reason Linford had no choice but to admit his guilt.”
Sentencing | two years and six months in prison; animal disqualification order of unspecified duration.
CONVICTED (2023) | Brad Green, born 19 November 1998, of 33 Salterns Estate, Fareham PO16 0SE and Nathan Daniels, born January 2001, of 27 Alexander Grove, Fareham PO16 0TU – broke into a zoo, threw a bottle at a giraffe’s head and vandalised enclosures.
Bradley Green (left) and Nathan Williams broke into a popular zoo, persecuted the animals and vandalised the enclosures
Nathan Daniels, who recently founded a company named Ripplesweets Ltd, cut the barbed wire fence at Marwell Zoo in Colden Common near Winchester. He and accomplice Brad Green then carried out the attack, leaving animals, including the giraffes, cheetahs and tigers “very distressed”.
Daniels pleaded guilty to damaging the penguins’ enclosure and a fence surrounding the zoo, while Green admitted damaging an enclosure containing the giraffes. Green also admitted an animal cruelty charge in relation to the giraffe, named Ursula. In her distress she had knocked herself against the door, sustaining two long gashes on her leg.
Charges against the pair’s friends Jason Huggitt, born c. 1998, and Coral Lock, born c. 1999, who were both present during the incident, were dropped. Huggitt had been charged with burglary with intent to commit criminal damage and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. Lock had been charged with assisting an offender, as she drove the other three thugs away from the scene.
Jason Huggitt and Coral Lock were present during the break-in, with the former initially charged with animal cruelty and burglary, but all charges against them were dropped
Video footage posted to Snapchat at the time of the break-in on February 15, 2021, showed a bottle being thrown at the head of a giraffe.
A tiger was also filmed apparently being encouraged to approach a fence before being kicking out at and scared away.
Multiple police units, including armed response officers with night vision goggles, a dog unit and a helicopter were dispatched to catch the intruders following the incident, amid fears endangered animals were at risk.
The heard the yobs had cut through a ‘double chain link fence’ before entering the premises.
Nathan Williams pictured during a court appearance. Image credit: Hampshire and IoW News.
Ellie Fargin, prosecuting, told the court the zoo’s exterior fence was cut so the pair could get into the grounds, while the doors of the giraffe and penguin enclosures were damaged.
Ms Fargin said the Snapchat video also showed the tiger in its enclosure.
The next morning, a plastic disinfectant bottle, sticks and stones were found in the tiger enclosure, while a bucket and another bottle of disinfectant were found in the giraffe enclosure, she said.
Ms Fargin said: “There is concern they had been thrown into the enclosure to cause distress as the tiger was behaving in a manner consistent with distress.
“Also, items were found in the cheetah enclosure.”
The injured giraffe was called Ursula, she said, while a door was found damaged with giraffe hair on it.
“The damage must have been caused by the giraffe or giraffes hitting it with force and that would have been done if they were in distress,” she said.
Ms Fargin said a life ring was found in the pool in the penguin enclosure and added: “The penguins displayed behaviour consistent with anxiety and distress from being disturbed.”
Daniel Reilly, defending Green, said to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, said his client has “deep regret and remorse” for his actions and threw the bottle at the giraffe “to get its attention”.
Brad Green (right) pictured with Jason Huggitt outside court. Image credit: Hampshire and IoW News.
He said Green faced a “social media backlash” following the incident and got death threats.
Mr Reilly said: “He knows that what he did is something that is significantly serious and something he is shamed by, particularly because he is, at his very core, an animal lover.”
Graham Gilbert, defending Daniels, said: “The behaviour showed a marked lack of maturity on his behalf.”
He said his client has lost his job working for a contractor for Marwell Zoo.
Three of those involved in the break-in at Marwell Zoo were swiftly outed on social media
Sentencing the pair the judge told them: “Almost two years ago, you two together had the idiotic idea of driving to Marwell Zoo during lockdown, when Marwell Zoo was closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“You, Green, broke a door at the rear of the giraffe house. You threw the bucket and bottle of disinfectant into the enclosure and you threw something at the giraffe which we see from the video that you took.
“It struck the giraffe on the neck. One of the giraffes had an injury to its leg, with two long gashes, which was discovered the next morning.
“It happened from the giraffe being distressed, knocking itself against the door.”
He added: “It caused a great deal of public outrage at your behaviour because people are rightly sensitive at behaviour causing damage to a zoo and to animals.
“You acted in a deplorable fashion for which you must be punished. Public outrage would be such that many members of the public would like to see you in prison for this behaviour.”
Sentencing | 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work; £750 compensation each to the zoo.
In early 2019 Brad Green admitted dumping the badly mutilated body of a goat in a supermarket carpark but claimed the animal was already dead when he found it.
The discovery of the animal’s brutalised remains followed a series of similar incidents in which at least five dead goats were dumped in towns and villages across Hampshire.
CONVICTED (2022) | Ryan Gibson, born c. 1991, of Farley Hill, Luton, and Ciaran Lambert, born c. 1998, most recently of Pleasant Place, Islington but originally from Flitwick, Bedford – stabbed a dog and his owner and hit them both with a hammer.
Ryan Gibson (left) and Ciaran Lambert stabbed and attacked a man and his dog during a burglary in Flitwick, Bedfordshire.
Gibson and Lambert were jailed after being found guilty of aggravated burglary and grievous bodily harm in connection to the violent attack in May 2019. At least one of the pair was originally charged with causing unnecessary suffering to the dog but this charge appears to have been dropped. Consequently neither was banned from owning an animal.
At around 5.45am, the victim and his dog, Blue (pictured) were stabbed and hit with a hammer at the victim’s Flitwick home.
Blue recovered from his injuries.
Despite sustaining life threatening chest wounds, the injured victim was able to provide officers with the names of his attackers. He also mentioned he believed the attack related to a small debt.
Several neighbours were alerted by the sound of glass smashing, followed by screams and shouts. They found the victim badly injured at the bottom of the stairs to his flat.
They went to his aid, noting the injured man was more concerned for the welfare of his dog, who had sustained two injuries, than his own condition. Several neighbours were able to provide details of the car used by the attackers.
Later that morning, officers identified the car at a property in Farley Hill, Luton. Armed officers entered the property and arrested Gibson and Lambert.
During a subsequent search of the property, a number of bags of cannabis were discovered as well as a balaclava, similar to one the victim said had been worn by one of his attackers.
The victim and his dog meanwhile both received emergency treatment and were able to survive their injuries.
During a two-week trial in May, the jury heard one of the offenders filmed themselves callously bragging about the attack. They had also stolen items from the victim’s home.
Following sentencing, DC Rebecca Crowley, who led the investigation, said: “The neighbours’ swift action in calling the ambulance ultimately saved the life of the victim and his dog.
Sentencing | Gibson was sentenced to 11 years for aggravated burglary, with an extended licence of three years on release. He will also serve a concurrent sentence of nine years for GBH with intent. Lambert was sentenced to eight years for aggravated burglary, to run concurrent with a six year sentence for GBH with intent.
CONVICTED (2021) | Dean Mannifield (aka Dean Pitts), born c. 1993, originally from Warrington but is of no fixed abode and has links to Colchester, Harlow and Epping in Essex and Rhyl, North Wales – battered a dog during a burglary, causing injuries so severe she had to be put to sleep
Dog killer: Dean Mannifield’s long criminal record includes a horrific act of violence towards a helpless animal
Mannifield was also charged with assaulting a couple, threatening three people at the scene and also threatening to cause criminal damage. It is believed that he was convicted on some if not all of the charges including the animal cruelty charge, but there are no newspaper reports to confirm this.
As of February 2021 and aged just 27 Mannifield had racked up 18 previous convictions for 47 offences with his other crimes including harassment, breach of a restraining order and affray against an ex-partner.
In February 2021, he was back before the courts again after subjecting a young mum to months of sickening domestic violence.
He also admitted breaking into a gun shop in Colchester during which he stole seven hunting shotguns.
He was jailed for five years and ten months and given an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim. He will serve half of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.
#MostEvil | Reece Reed (aka Reece Howard-Reed), born c. 2000, most recently of Club Street, Kettering NN16 8RP – mutilated a prize-winning miniature horse by stabbing him 20 times; ripped the wings off three chickens
Farmyard prowler and animal abuser Reece Reed was caught naked from the waist down in a chicken coop
Reed, who has previous convictions for burglary and vehicle theft, attacked the animals in April 2018 after breaking into a Wellingborough farm. The farm owner was alerted by a burglar alarm at 07:30 a.m.
Prosecutor Priya Bakshi told the court: “He ran to the summer house to investigate. There he found a shovel, and saw one window had been pried open and another had been smashed.
“He peered through the window. There, he saw a man with a six-inch kitchen knife inside the chicken coop.”
The farmer scared off the armed man – Reed, who was naked from the waist down – before searching his stables to see if any animals had been hurt.
Victim Sol suffered appalling knife injuries during a sadistic attack by Reece Reed
It was then that he found his daughter’s prize-winning miniature show horse Sol. His back legs and rear had been stabbed 20 times and he was bleeding heavily.
Additionally, Reed had cut the wings off of three chickens. They had to be put down.
In court, the judge heard how Sol was a prize winner worth over £3,000 and was on track to becoming a champion show horse. But following the attack, Sol was rendered unfit to compete ever again.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Sol’s owner said: After I learned that Sol had been hurt I was devastated and heartbroken.
“Sol was and is my best friend and he will always be part of the family.”
Reed later pleaded guilty to the offence.
His defence barrister, Osmun Munir, said the 19-year-old was “remorseful and expresses sympathy for the family”.
But in sentencing, Judge Fowler was unable to jail Reed for more than two months over the mutilations – because the attacks were charged as “criminal damage” rather than, for example, animal cruelty.
He told Reed: “This episode can only be described as wholly despicable. The charges that you face today do not reflect the wickedness of your behaviour.
“This has been treated as if it were criminal damage against two inanimate objects. It isn’t. And it is in my view and error that ought to be corrected.”
CONVICTED (2019) | Port Talbot men Kieran Jason Bunce, born 6 May 2000, of Traethmelyn, Sandfields SA12 7TJ, Leon Solskjaer Rowlands, born 23 October 1999, of Morrison Road, Sandfields and Marcus Lee Thomas, born c. 1989, of Morrison Road, Sandfields – fed a dog glass and beat him during a burglary.
Kieran Bunce, Marcus Thomas and Leon Solskjaer also targeted a defenceless dog during a house burglary
Reverend Philip Owen was out celebrating his 70th birthday when “opportunistic” burglars Kieran Bunce, Leon Solskjaer Rowlands and Marcus Thomas targeted his house.
Rev Owen described how the burglars had taken glass from the window they had smashed to get in and put it in meat they had got from the fridge.
They then gave it to Rev Owen’s dog Rusty, as well as beating him on the back legs and ribs.
Luckily, a vet later found Rusty had not ingested any glass and he has now made a full recovery.
Marcus Thomas is a career criminal with multiple previous convictions
The three men were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court for breaking and entering, burglary and theft.
Bunce and Thomas admitted the charges and got two years and eight months and four years and six months.
Rowlands was found guilty after trial and given 18 months.
“It was a big day but it was absolutely ruined,” Rev Owen said, referring to his birthday.
“My grandchildren came down and were traumatised with the mess that was here and the state their grandmother was in.
“The dog was badly beaten. It was terrible.”
Judge Geraint Thomas called Thomas a “career criminal” and said the defendants could show remorse by telling the victim where the stolen jewellery was.
He asked “what Fagin-type character” they had passed it on to, but they refused to answer.
Sentencing: all three were given a custodial sentence for the burglary offence. None of them were prosecuted for animal cruelty so no bans were imposed.
CONVICTED (2019) | Martin Carter, born, c 1986, of Mercers Meadow, Keresley End, Coventry CV7 8RF – stole a dog from Birmingham Dogs Home and cut off his ears to avoid capture.
Mastiff cross Marley was stolen from Birmingham Dogs Home by his callous former owner, Martin Carter.
The court heard that Martin Carter stole the three-year-old Mastiff cross – known as Marley – during a burglary at Birmingham Dogs Home in November 2017.
Birmingham Dogs Home never gave up searching for Marley and released stills from CCTV footage in the hope of identifying the thief
Staff at charity never gave up the search for the pooch and after a number of appeals police recovered Marley from an address in Keresley, Coventry.
The court was also told that cruel Carter had arranged for the dog’s ears to be surgically cropped off in an attempt to conceal his identity.
He even had the dog’s microchip surgically removed and replaced with another.
Marley pictured before his ears were cruelly mutilated by his former owner, Martin Carter
Carter’s court appearance came after a police investigation across the West Mercia, Warwickshire and West Midlands Police regions.
An application by the prosecution for Carter to be disqualified from owning animals again was not granted.
Sentencing | six-month custodial sentence for handling stolen goods and three months for the animal offence – to run concurrently.While an application by the prosecution for Carter to be disqualified from keeping animals was not initially granted, this was overturned on appeal in November 2019 and he is banned from keeping animals for life.
CONVICTED (2018) | county lines drug dealer Dylan Uttley (also known as Dylan Ojapah), born 09/06/1998, most recent known address Onslow Road, Liverpool L6 3BA – took selfies with a woman’s Lhasa Apso before killing the dog by hanging him
Dylan Uttley had asked a Peterhead woman if he could use her home to sell drugs – a practice known as “cuckooing.”
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that she refused – but left the property to go and stay with a friend.
When she returned the next day, she discovered her home had been broken into – and spotted her beloved Lhasa Apso hanging from a door.
She smashed a window to get in and desperately tried to resuscitate the dog before realising he was dead.
The court heard neighbours heard her screams, and called the police.
Police searched a property on Seaton Drive in Aberdeen the following month, and came across Uttley.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Wright said: “Photographs of the accused and of the dead dog were recovered.
“An examination established these photographs had been taken at the locus, the first image was a selfie of the accused taken before hanging the dog.”
Uttley, whose address was given in court papers as Polmont YOI, admitted killing the dog.
He also confessed to supplying cocaine and diamorphine in August and September 2017.
Sheriff Jack Brown locked Uttley up for three years, and told him: “It is evident that you are not at the lowest end of the chain as far as this supply is concerned and you openly accept you employed others to sell drugs.”
He described the killing of the dog as a “singularly evil, callous and barbaric act” which Uttley “compounded by taking photographs of it.”
#MostEvil | Frank Lyn Lewis, born 16/07/1998, of 4 Penderyn Road, Cymmer, Port Talbot SA13 3SR – stole cats from an animal sanctuary to use as “live bait” for his dogs to hunt down to kill.
Frank Lewis , who was described in court as “pure evil and a being without a soul”, stole cats from an animal sanctuary to use as live bait for his dogs.
Lewis broke into the Ty Nant cat sanctuary in Port Talbot late at night and stole a cage with ten cats, which were being nursed back to health by volunteers.
Georgina Buckley, prosecuting, said: “Lewis essentially used the cats for sport. He used his dogs to hunt down and kill them.
“He caused lacerations to the cats himself to try and hinder their escape.”
Miss Buckley told Swansea Crown Court that three cats were found mauled to death in different spots near the sanctuary in Neath Port Talbot.
Four were found alive and returned but three others are still missing and presumed dead.
Ms Buckley added: “Post mortem gave the cause of death as the result of an attack and having been shaken viciously by an animal, like a dog.”
The court heard Lewis set up his sick game just two weeks after he was sentenced in a youth court for a gruesome attack on a sheep.
Frank Lewis pictured outside court
Lewis stole the sheep from a field and strung it up upside down to a tree, before cutting its head off with a machete. He then posed for photos next to its bloodied carcass and posted them on Facebook.
The police were alerted and Lewis, who is unemployed and on benefits, was given a referral order at Swansea Youth Court.
Thomas Edwards/Jenkins pictured in 2019
But he then went on to strike at the Ty Nant Cat Sanctuary just days later with a then 15-year-old accomplice, Thomas Edwards (aka Thomas Jenkins), born 02/02/2001 of 28 Heol Treharne, Blaengwynfi, Port Talbot.
Theresa Ahmed, owner of the sanctuary, read out a victim impact statement in court, where she called Lewis “pure evil and a being without a soul.”
Ms Ahmed, who built the sanctuary on the grounds of her family home and has run it with her husband since 1990, said: “The burglary has changed my life forever.
“The sickening realisation that cats were missing and what had happened to them will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
Mr Herd, defending, said Lewis accepted responsibility for the burglary and the deaths of the cats.
He said: “Lewis concedes his dogs were trained to hunt and he knew full well about what the outcome would be.”
Mr Herd said Lewis, whose mother committed suicide five years ago, had been seen by child psychologists after decapitating a sheep, who concluded he showed “psychopathic traits” and signs of a personality disorder.
2019 image of psychopathic serial animal abuser Lewis posing, worryingly, with a young German Shepherd
He pleaded guilty to burglary and criminal damage at Swansea Crown Court where he appeared for sentencing.
Judge Paul Hopkins told Lewis his acts added with his “extreme right-wing views on race and sexuality” meant he was “dangerous.”
Judge Hopkins said: “You tortured a sheep before beheading it, and then took a photo such was your satisfaction at what had been done.
“You then broke into a cat sanctuary and stole 10 cats. You used them as bait for your dogs. They are acts of great cruelty amounting to sadism.”
Sentence: Lewis was given 30 months in a young offenders institute. Jenkins was given a nine month curfew order.
The sick activities of serial animal abuser Frank Lewis of Cymmer near Port Talbot in Wales will be well known to many of you. If not, be warned that the details are gruesome.
In 2016 Lewis broke into an animal sanctuary, stole a cage containing 10 cats who had been nursed back to health by sanctuary workers, and used them as live bait for his dogs. He cut the ligaments of at least one of the cats to slow her down. Only four cats were ever returned to the sanctuary. The mutilated bodies of some of the cats were discovered while others were never found and are presumed dead.
During Lewis’s court appearance his own lawyer said his client showed “psychopathic traits” and signs of a personality disorder.
Twisted Lewis didn’t act alone that night. He was accompanied by a younger boy Thomas Jenkins (aka Thomas Edwards), now 18 years old and like Lewis a persistent animal torturer. Here’s what one local told me about Jenkins (treat as allegations for now).
“Jenkins has a long history of hurting and abusing animals. Former neighbours have told me of incidents over the years such as breaking the jaw of his ferret because it bit him. He also spray painted the eyes of sheep and boasted of hurting animals to children he bullied at school. He hunts and goes lamping. He is a danger to animals.”
In 2017 Jenkins allegedly went on the rampage at the local pub. Armed with knives and an axe he then broke into the house of a local woman but was brought down by her husband and son. He had to be tasered several times. He spent a few months in a young offenders institution but is now back in Blaengwynfi where he lives with his paternal grandparents and a Patterdale terrier dog.
Two weeks before Frank Lewis broke into the animal sanctuary he was convicted of cruelty to a sheep he suspended from a tree before chopping into her neck with a machete. All of this was captured on film as these sickos like to do. With Lewis as he tortured the helpless sheep to death was Zac Thomas. We don’t know a great deal about Thomas but if YOU do, we are all ears.
CONVICTED (2016) | Bradley Michael Harris, born 4 September 1998, of South Back Lane, Bridlington YO16 4AL – stabbed a Patterdale terrier to death.
2022 image of Bradley Harris: Source: Facebook
Harris, who has strong family links to Lincoln, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a black Patterdale terrier-type dog called McGregor by stabbing the dog with a knife in July 2016.
RSPCA inspector Geoff Edmond said: “This was a horrendous incident which caused the suffering and death of a dog and enormous distress to the dog’s owners.
“Harris was one of four people who were drunk and causing a disturbance in the communal hallway of a block of flats in Wellington Road in Bridlington, where two of them lived.
“The group were confronted by McGregor’s owners, a man and a woman who also lived there, about the noise they were making.
“The door to their home was kicked in and their two dogs escaped into the hallway.
“McGregor was stabbed twice by Harris. Veterinary evidence suggests he was held down when this happened. He managed to escape and was found a few minutes later, collapsed in a pool of blood under a table. He died from his injuries in the arms of one of his owners.”
Sentence: four months in jail; £125 victim surcharge. Disqualified from keeping animals for five years (expired December 2021).
