CONVICTED (2009) | Harry Clay, born 22 September 1989, of Darracott Road, Bournemouth BH5 – tormented a hamster and eventually killed her by throwing her against a wall.
Ever heard the saying “pick on someone your own size”? Well it’s a pity that Harry Clay from Bournemouth and one-time student of fishery management at Sparsholt College in Hampshire didn’t take heed. The tiny creature he tortured to death was a dwarf hamster named Smudge.
Clay began by tormenting Smudge, who belonged to another student, throwing her up in the air several times and catching her, before dropping her to the ground from a height of 15 feet. Another student picked up the stricken hamster, but Clay grabbed her back and threw her against a wall, finally killing her.
Finally he picked up the little corpse and dropped it into a dustbin.
After a three-day trial, Clay was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a hamster under section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2007.
The principal of Sparsholt College said that they viewed “any form of animal cruelty with the utmost seriousness”. They did not, however, expel Clay but instead said they would try to ensure that “he re-learns the vital lessons of care and respect for all animals”.
Let’s hope they got through to him.
Sentencing | 12-month supervision order; 150 hours of community work. Banned from keeping hamsters for a year.
CONVICTED (2009) | Jackie Hurst, born c. 1961, of Southbourne Avenue, Walsall WS2 9TE and Katie Hurst, born c. 1988, of Manor Road, Walsall WS2 9PU – failed to seek immediate treatment for pet dogs infested with worms and suffering skin disease
Dog abusers Jacqueline and Katie Hurst were banned for life from keeping animals. Photo also shows Stan Bates of Forrester Street, Pleck, who was prosecuted separately for cruelty to two dogs named Lady and Bella.
Two of four puppies belonging to Jacqueline and Katie Hurst died as they did not get veterinary care needed and the pair instead tried to treat the pets themselves. They admitted five offences of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Issues with mange and the eye conditions of the three-month-old rottweilers being looked after at two addresses in Forrester Street, Walsall, were raised after they finally took them for vet treatment.
Once the RSPCA became involved they had concerns about an adult rottweiler dog called Lady, four, and a Staffordshire bull terrier suffering similar ailments. Jacqueline Hurst’s partner Stanley Bates (pictured) was later convicted for neglect of those two dogs.
Mr Nick Sutton, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: “These animals were suffering from a cocktail of ailments so serious they caused the death of two puppies. These people are not fit to have animals.”
The pair pleaded guilty to the charges.
Sentencing: £250 costs each. Jacqueline Hurst – supervision and curfew order. Katie Hurst – 120 hours of unpaid work plus supervision order. Both were disqualified from keeping animals for life.
CONVICTED (2009) | Shane Paul Burt, born c. 1989, of 10 Deans Avenue, Connah’s Quay, Deeside CH5 4QF – filmed his dog trying to kill a badger.
Burt was found guilty of wilfully attempting to kill a badger after being prosecuted under the Badgers Act 1992.
The court heard the horrible attack happened in Dock Road, Connah’s Quay, sometime between September 30 and November 26, 2008.
Acting on information there was mobile phone footage that would incriminate Burt, police executed a search warrant on his home.
They seized the phone, which was found to have about 30-seconds of sickening footage showing the dog attacking the badger.
The footage ends with the badger leaving the scene.
Burt told police his dog had been injured in the attack and that he had washed the injuries with warm, salted water.
He said that the dog – a lurcher/Staffy named Hooch – had since been put down.
After the case, North Wales Police Wildlife and Environmental Officer Sgt Rob Taylor said: “I am very pleased with the result. It was a callous and sick act.”
Sentencing | 150 hours of community service; £250 costs. Three-year ban on keeping animals (expired 2012).
CONVICTED (2009) | Gary David Adamson (26/01/1971) of Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, Owen Anthony Batey (26/11/1968) from Middlesbrough, Christopher John Burgess (24/11/1966) from Mansfield, Kenneth Harold King (14/12/1973) from Newark, Jane Adamson aka Jane Barnes (22/12/1970) of Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, Claire Amanda Parker (15/12/1964) from Gainsborough, and Mohammed Nasir Farooq (16/09/1975) of Bordesley Green, Birmingham
, Clockwise from top left Claire Parker, Gary Adamson, Mohammed Farooq, Owen Batey
Members of one of the UK’s biggest dog-fighting gangs were caught as part of two major investigations into dog fighting by the RSPCA’s special operations unit named Operations Cannon and Castle.
Separate footage obtained by an undercover reporter working on a BBC Panorama investigation into organised dog fighting and a notorious gang, the Farmers’ Boys, also provided the RSPCA with vital video evidence to bring the gang to justice.
Video footage captured Adamson readying his dog for a fight
In a secretly recorded video shown in the programme, Gary Adamson proudly boasts that a dog named as Pablo suffered a “real good ragging” in a half-hour fight with Kenneth King’s dog Chief for £500 prize money. Adamson pulls up the nervous-looking dog by his collar at one point to show multiple white scars on his face, a ripped ear and some stapled wounds.
Gary Adamson – the self-described”Don King” of dog fighting
Adamson was caught on camera naming some of those who attended, while others were tracked down by the RSPCA.
The journalist secretly filmed Adamson’s now ex wife Jane Adamson (now Jane Barnes) at a dog fight.
Jane Adamson / Jane Barnes
When Jane Adamson was interviewed by police, she told officers: “I just did what I had to do.”
Searches were carried out at several premises, including the homes of the defendants. Equipment including several treadmills, training aids, home veterinary kits and prescription only drugs were all discovered by the RSPCA inspectors who investigated the case. Many of the individuals also had elaborate kennel set-ups at their home addresses, along with several pit bull type dogs that had scars from previous fights.
‘Fighting’ dog chained up at Gary Adamson’s home
During a search of Claire Parker’s home, RSPCA inspectors discovered a blood stained fighting pit constructed in the garage. This is believed to be the pit where the fight described by Adamson was held. The inspectors also found three pit bull type dogs, an elaborate set of kennels and treadmills used to train the animals at Parker’s premises.
Dog badly injured after being forced by Adamson’s evil gang to participate in a fight
Adamson boasted how he was the “Don King of dog fighting” and was a top breeder and trader of bull terriers.
Details of Charges and Sentencing
Claire Parker, aka Claire Page, denied all the charges but was found guilty of being present at a dog fight, keeping a premises for dog fighting and possessing three pit bull dogs. She was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned from keeping animals for ten years (expired 2019).
Her late-husband John Parker was also due to stand trial on dog fighting charges, but he died before the hearing while in prison for other offences.
Gary Adamson
Gary Adamson of 9 Seymour Avenue, Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees TS16 0LD pleaded guilty to six charges in connection with illegal dog fighting and was given 23 weeks in prison. He was banned from keeping animals for life.
Mohammed Farooq of 43 Daniels Road, Birmingham B9 5XP was found guilty on two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and possessing training equipment for dog fighting and was jailed for the maximum 26 weeks. Banned from keeping all animals for life.
Owen Batey of 44 Cannock Road, Middlesbrough TS3 7NU was given 23 weeks in jail, having admitted setting two pit bulls on each other, being present at a dog-fight and owning a pit bull. He was disqualified from keeping animals for life.
Christopher Burgess of 44 Nursery Court, Nursery Street, Mansfield NG18 2AJ pleaded guilty to one charge of keeping a banned dog and received 160 hours’ community service.
Kenneth King of Island Cottage, High Street, East Markham, Newark NG22 0QJ admitted eight charges including taking part in dog fights. He was jailed for 23 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life.
Jane Adamson previously of Pacific Drive, Stockton on Tees (current address tbc) admitted one charge: causing unnecessary suffering to a pit bull terrier type dog named Pablo by failing to obtain veterinary attention in respect of injuries sustained in a fight. She was given an 18-month community order and told to pay £150 in costs. She was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years (expired 2019).
An unidentified 17-year-old youth was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and keeping dog-fighting equipment. He was given a six-month referral order and a five-year ban from keeping or owning animals.
Several members of the gang appealed, but these were largely unsuccessful.
A fight broke out inside the court building during which Kenneth King received head injuries. Police had to use a taser to overpower Christopher Burgess.
Claire Parker was sentenced to four and a half years in jail after she crashed her BMW at 80mph and killed a devoted couple.
Lincoln Crown Court heard Parker was estimated to be driving her BMW at 80mph when she crossed over double white lines and moved out to pass two cars and a double decker bus before colliding with the couple’s vehicle.
CONVICTED (2009) | breeder Melanie Jean King, born 10/08/1954, of Station Farm, Station Road, Appledore, Ashford TN26 2DG – kept dozens of dogs in cramped and squalid conditions
Melanie King, formerly of Whents Farm in Teynham, near Sittingbourne, was given a suspended prison sentence, ordered to undertake unpaid work and to pay over £1000 in costs to Swale Council after breaching the conditions of her dog-breeding licence.
She was sentenced at Sittingbourne Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to 24 offences under Section 1 of the Breeding of Dogs Act 1973.
The court was shown a number of images of 40 dogs on her farm kept in cramped and squalid conditions.
Vets inspecting the premises in December 2008 had raised serious concerns about breeding conditions at the establishment.
It was agreed a new licence would be granted to King for a temporary period. This was to allow her time to deal with hygiene issues raised.
But on three further inspections by council officers and the RSPCA between February and March 2009, numerous breaches of the breeding licence were discovered which led to the prosecution.
In sentencing, magistrates told King that had she failed to plead guilty at an early stage, they would have imposed a custodial sentence.
Speaking after sentencing, Swale council’s environmental response manager, Alister Andrews, said: “This conviction is a significant victory not only for us, but also for the animals which were kept at this establishment.”
Sentencing: 140-day suspended prison sentence; 150 hours’ unpaid work; £1,100 costs. Banned for life from breeding dogs, although this was reduced on appeal to just seven years in 2011 (expired).
#MostEvil | Amersham horse trader James John Gray (05/09/1963), wife Julie Cordelia Gray (24/05/1967) and daughters Jodie June Gray (12/09/1982) and Cordelia Gray (29/05/1988) and James Gray junior (23/01/1993) – left more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys to starve among the rotting carcasses of other animals
Clockwise from top left: James Gray Sr, Julie Gray, Cordelia Gray, Jodie Gray, court protestors, James Gray Jr
In a case veterinary expert witness described as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen, 31 equines were found dead at Spindle Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham. Some 111 other horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued.
The massive rescue was co-ordinated by Thames Valley Police, Trading Standards and the RSPCA with help from the Horse Trust, the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), Redwings Horse Sanctuary and the Blue Cross
James Gray Sr is banned for life from keeping equine animals
Hooves and body parts of horses that had been left to die were scattered around and a grotesque mound made up of bones and skulls was discovered.
The horror scene was uncovered when RSPCA inspectors were called to the farm, where a horse-trading business run by the Gray family was based.
James Gray Jr
There were 140 animals at the farm and many were left with little food or dry bedding, were crammed into pens and ankle-deep in their own faeces.
Jodie Gray, aka Jodie Keet, with son Tommy Gray
In total 115 animals, some severely emaciated, had to be rescued and removed from the farm during a huge operation in January 2009.
Robert Seabrook QC told the court how two RSPCA inspectors visiting the farm in January 2008 were confronted with a “grotesque and distressing state of affairs”.
He said a number of horses were discovered in “disgusting pens”, some were tethered individually and others were loose in the paddocks.
The most extraordinary aspect he said was that many horses were next to carcasses in varying states of decomposition and the smell of rotting flesh was “over-powering”.
He added: “A number of animals that were found had plainly been dead for a number of days and as it turns out, some for many months.”
Julie Gray
The court heard in one pen three severed hooves were found alongside the bodies of two other horses.
James Gray Sr was convicted of nine charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
His son James Gray Jr was convicted of identical charges although two were later overturned on appeal.
Gray’s wife, Julie, and daughters Cordelia and Jodie were found guilty of the two charges of failing to protect the animals.
No member of the family showed any sign of emotion as the judge passed sentence.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Hampton described the conditions the horses were kept in as “grotesque”.
Speaking after the sentencing, Hampton said: “The RSPCA is pleased the district judge has recognised the extent of the cruelty, neglect and the suffering endured by the animals in this case.
“We see the disqualifications from keeping horses as an effective measure to prevent animals suffering in future.”
Sentencing: James Gray Sr was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from keeping horses, ponies and donkeys for life. He was also ordered to pay £400,000. Gray was given a further two months after absconding from court. Two of Gray’s convictions were overturned in 2010, but Gray was ordered to pay £600,000 towards the RSPCA’s legal costs and faced financial ruin. A later appeal against what Gray claimed were disproportionate legal costs was rejected.
James Gray Junior was given an 18-month supervision order. He was banned from keeping equines for 10 years with right of appeal after five (ban expired June 2019).
Julie, Jodie and Cordelia Gray were each given 150 hours of community service. They were also banned from keeping equines for 10 years, with the right of appeal after five (bans expired June 2019).
Julie Gray was ordered to pay £750 in costs, and Cordelia Gray and Jodie Gray £500 each.
James Gray and Cordelia Gray, 57 Narcot Road, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4DF Julie Cordelia Gray, 15 Weller Road, Amersham HP6 6LQ James Gray Jr, Chalk Hill Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham HP6 5SA Jodie June Gray (also known as Jodie Keet), 14 Middle Meadow, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4QS
Update September 2021
The Bucks Free Press reported that James Gray was let off £200,000-worth of fines due to bankruptcy.
Gray was ordered to pay more than £1million in fines and court costs and has served jail time since he was convicted of multiple animal welfare offences in 2008.
He attempted to appeal the convictions at London’s High Court in 2013, but although two of his 11 original convictions were overturned, he was ultimately unsuccessful and had another £200,000 added to his legal bill.
In August 2021, Gray, of 57 Narcot Road in Chalfont St Giles, had £223,453-worth of fines written off.
Documents attached to the court listing state that the amount was remitted due to Gray being bankrupt, having served prison time, and the RSPCA refusing the money.
In 2014, Gray was hauled back before the courts and was jailed for four-and-a-half years after he fleeced pensioners out of thousands of pounds for cowboy building works.
In an attempt to raise funds to pay off his fines and court costs, Gray conned an 88-year-old former British Library academic out of £20,000 for work which experts valued at just £150.
He drained £18,000 out of another 80-year-old victim’s account, leaving him with just £300 after repeatedly demanding money from him. This victim died just months after the money was found to be missing.
Gray, who had done this work under the fake name ‘Joseph De Paula’, admitted two counts of fraud by false representation before he was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court.
CONVICTED (2009) | Daniel Grant Winspear, born 18/11/1990, of 44 Arncliffe Gardens, Hartlepool TS26 9JF – smashed a tortoise to pieces with a baseball bat
Drunken Daniel Winspear, who was aged 18 at date of conviction, carried out the attack on the defenceless creature – which is a protected species – at a house party.
Winspear was found in the conservatory in the early hours of May 23, 2008, with the bat in his hand and the dismembered tortoise next to him.
An RSPCA statement said: “This was an act of gruesome, sadistic cruelty and the magistrates sentence, including the disqualification, reflected not only the magistrates’ disapproval but society’s disapproval of such acts.”
Winspear had been invited to the party by a cousin who was already there. But on arrival he was “very drunk.”
John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: “While at the house he took a small baseball bat and smashed a tortoise to death.”
The teenager who lived at the house then came into the conservatory and saw “the mess everywhere” and asked what had happened.
Mr Ellwood added: “Mr Winspear appeared to have the baseball bat in his hand and was smiling and accused one of the other boys of having done it.
“On further inquiries he admitted he had done it and was told to leave.
“The young man and his friends tried to clean up the mess and put the tortoise in the bin.
“Unfortunately they kept finding bits of the tortoise splattered about the conservatory and the smell was truly grim.”
The pet’s owners rushed back from their holiday in Blackpool after hearing about the sickening act, and they immediately called the RSPCA.
A vet from the charity said the tortoise had not died instantly but “suffered between the repetitive blows.”
In interview with RSPCA inspectors, Winspear said he was too drunk to remember doing it.
The chairman of the magistrates’ bench, Katie Brown, said: “The photos we saw made sickening viewing and you really should have faced up to what you did.
“You committed this while under the influence of alcohol which is indicative of the perils of alcohol abuse.”
Winspear was allowed to appeal against the ban on looking after animals after five years.
Sentence: 18-month community order with 250 hours of unpaid work; costs of £1,652.71 to cover RSPCA, vet and solicitor bills; banned from keeping animals for 10 years (expired March 2019).
#MostEvil | Christopher Dennis Collyer, born 12/09/1983, with a last-known address of Aldcliffe Court, Morecambe LA4 4TW – strung up an ‘unwanted’ springer spaniel by his lead and left him to slowly choke to death.
Father of multiple children Collyer was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to Charlie by hanging him from a pipe inside a stone bunker in woods in Keighley, West Yorkshire, leaving him to strangle to death.
Dog killer Christopher Collyer’s victim Charlie
Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told the court the vet who examined Charlie after his death confirmed his death would not have been ‘instantaneous’ and said he was also suffering from a chronic skin condition.
Ian and Mandy Collyer now of West Byland, Halifax. Mandy Collyer allegedly told her son to “get rid” of Charlie.
The court heard that Collyer had been given the dog by his parents, Mandy and Ian Collyer, who were moving house and could not take Charlie with them.
The dog was found hanging in a concrete bunker in Hainsworth Woods, Keighley, by a member of the public on June 10 2008.
A prosecution witness had previously placed Collyer there on June 7.
Mr Monaghan said: “This was appalling cruelty. It was a deliberate and what appears to have been a premeditated act by the defendant.
“What followed was what can only be described as a tissue of lies.
“In court he maintained his story that he had taken the dog for a walk, met a woman and given it to her.
“It is difficult to think of a worse example of animal cruelty given the degree of suffering he must have been subjected to.”
Collyer’s parents, Mandy Collyer and Ian Collyer of West Byland, Illingworth, Halifax HX2 9JU admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the animal by failing to provide veterinary care for Charlie’s skin condition.
Mandy Collyer
Speaking about the case, the RSPCA inspector who found Charlie said it was the worst case he had seen in 15 years.
CONVICTED (2009) | Sebrina Carty, aka Sebrina Buttimer, born 03/12/1987, of Milner Gardens, Richmond Hill, Leeds LS9 8NW – threw a puppy off a three-storey high balcony during an argument with her boyfriend.
Seven-week-old Jack Russell Rocky was thrown from the balcony in his dog carrier after drunken Carty became enraged during the argument. Despite Carty’s wicked intentions, the tiny dog survived the plunge.
The court heard how police were called to domestic disturbance in Carty’s previous address in Appleton Square, Leeds, in October 2008.
They found the smashed pet carrier and Rocky collapsed nearby.
He was taken to a local vet who found he had soft tissue damage and bruises but no broken bones.
Carty pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy and was given a community sentence and a measly two-year ban on keeping animals.
RSPCA inspector Dave Holgate said: ‘This was a sickening case of deliberate and sadistic cruelty.
‘The puppy was only a few weeks old and must have been terrified. It’s a miracle that he wasn’t seriously injured or killed.
‘The sentence passed reflects the serious nature of this incident and serves to show that this kind of vile cruelty cannot and will not be tolerated.’
Rocky made a full recovery and now lives in a new home
Sentencing: 100 hours of unpaid work; £250 costs; two year ban (expired 2011).
#MostEvil | Declan Kevin Baker, born 6 January 1991, of Craig O’Loch Road, Forfar DD8 1BZ – cooked a kitten in a microwave
Sadistic kitten killer Declan Baker pictured outside court in 2009 (left) with a more recent (2019) photo of him on the right.
In February 2009 Baker pleaded guilty to cooking a four-week-old kitten in a microwave.
Although the kitten initially survived, one of his paws became swollen and flesh elsewhere on his tiny body started to decay. Six days after the attack he was put to sleep to end his suffering.
Baker could not explain his sadistic act other than to say that he had drank half-a-bottle of whisky and that it was a joke that had gone too far.
The kitten – one of a litter – belonged to Baker’s friend, who called the police when he discovered what Baker had done. Animal welfare campaigners were disappointed that Baker was not given a custodial sentence. However, Baker was met with angry scenes outside the court and had to be taken home in a police van. He had also received death threats.
In January 2010 Baker was told that he would not have to complete his community service sentence due to a debilitating medical condition, the precise nature of which was not revealed.
Sentencing: 120 hours of community service. Banned from keeping pets for seven years (expired 2016).
