CONVICTED (2024) | Leah Mae O’Connor, born 23 June 1999, of Summerfield Road, Todmorden OL14 – left two dogs to starve to death in an abandoned property.
Bulldog Doris and Rottweiler puppy Rox were left behind when single mother Leah O’Connor moved out of a house on Melrose Street, Halifax, in February 2023.
The RSPCA were alerted after the property’s landlord discovered the abandoned pets.
In written evidence to the court, Inspector Demi Hodby said: “The property itself was full of faeces and urine.
“Where there wasn’t faeces there was rubbish and other hazards on the floor and it was difficult to move around.
“It smelt strongly of urine and faeces and it was difficult to stay inside.
“The smell caused my eyes and nose to burn.”
There was a dog cage covered with a blue blanket in the house and inside was the body of Rox.
Inspector Hodby said: “There was no food or water inside the cage and it looked as though the dog had been trying for some time to get out.”
She added: “The dog itself was in an emaciated condition.
“One of its legs was poked through the cage and wrapped around the bars.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking to think what this dog has gone through leading up to its death.”
Doris was barely alive – emaciated, shivering, and lethargic, the court heard.
She was rushed for veterinary treatment and found to be severely dehydrated, covered in fleas, and had to be carried into the room because “she was too weak to stand”.
It was found she had eaten plastic to survive.
The bulldog was there for more than a week but her condition deteriorated and she had to be put down.
The court heard O’Connor had “spun a web of lies” to neighbours and family members, telling them Doris and Rox had been rehomed to someone on a farm.
She told Inspector Hodby in an interview she had done this after leaving the address and claimed someone must have broken in, as she was not aware the dogs were there.
O’Connor had concealed the dog’s suffering and the state of the property, which she wouldn’t allow anyone to enter, before finally leaving the house and abandoning the dogs to die inside.
In mitigation, the court was told O’Connor had been diagnosed with low maturity.
She also struggled with alcohol and drug issues – which she was getting help for – as well as depression and anxiety.
The magistrates were told that the “prolonged neglect” and abandonment of the dogs by their owner for a long period of time could not be regarded as anything other than “a deliberate act, perhaps short of sadistic behaviour”.
O’Connor pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and was ordered to undertake rehabilitation activities.
Speaking after the case, Inspector Hodby said: “The sight of Rox, who had wasted away in that filthy cage, unable to escape, is something that will stay with me, and those who discovered her, for a long time.
“Along with Doris, she’d endured unimaginable suffering over a prolonged period of time, having been abandoned and forgotten about.”
Sentencing | suspended 20-week prison sentence; 33 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days. Banned from keeping animals indefinitely.