CONVICTED (2024) | Eugene Meenaghan, born 10 February 2001, of 43 Crabgate Lane, Skellow, Doncaster DN6 8LE, Joseph Murtagh, born December 2001, from Woodlands, Doncaster, Jay Poole born 2 April 2004, of 3 The Circuit, Woodlands, Doncaster DN6 7TE, and Jake Reidy, born 23 May 2005, of 58 Princess Avenue, Stainforth, Doncaster DN7 5QY – for the possession of hare coursing equipment and destroying a farmer’s field.
The four men, who are all prolific wildlife persecutors, travelled from Doncaster to the hamlet of Apley, near Wragby, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, in the early hours of 1 October 2023. They then drove through a farmer’s field, damaging the land and destroying crops, before attempting to leave the area.
Eugene Meenaghan
The crime was reported to Lincolnshire Police and patrolling officers from Spec Ops quickly identified the vehicle and stopped the group near Burton Waters.
Officers found longdogs and equipment such as lamps – used in lamping to stun wild animals before dogs are set loose.
They were arrested and subsequently videos of animal fights were found on their phones.
Jake Reidy
All four men were charged with being equipped to hare course, breach of section nine of the animal welfare act and criminal damage. They pleaded guilty to these charges.
Jay Poole with father Craig Poole
On Thursday 25 April 2024 officials at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court told the group to pay out a combined total of £19,791.72 in costs and compensation.
Eugene Meenaghan will pay £5,262,93. Joseph Murtagh will pay £4,842.93. Jay Poole will pay £4,842.93. Jake Reidy will pay £4,842.93.
Magistrates described the crimes as ‘cruel and despicable’ and said the events of that night had ‘caused great distress’.
Joe Murtagh
This result comes after a lengthy police investigation and PC Karen Irving, who works for the rural crime action team, insists this behaviour won’t be tolerated.
She said: “We are determined to make Lincolnshire the safest place to live, work and visit. This result shows we will use all avenues available to us to bring people to justice and protect our communities and wildlife.
Sentencing | costs and compensation; 10-year criminal behaviour order not to enter Lincolnshire with longdogs; 100 hours of community service. Forfeiture of mobile phones and lamping equipment. Disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years..
CONVICTED (2023) | April Foulds, born c. 1991, of Drummond Road, Skegness PE25 3EH – breached a 10-year ban on keeping animals.
Foulds was given the 10-year disqualification order in December 2021 after being convicted of failing to take reasonable steps to meet the basic needs of animals. No details of the original conviction have been published online.
On 24 August 2022 police officers, acting on a tip-off, discovered two cats at Foulds’ home.
Prosecutor Lottie Tyler told magistrates : “Officers were unable to gain entry. They saw two cats that didn’t look malnourished,”
The cats were seized by the RSPCA on September 14, 2022.
Foulds, who admitting breaching the disqualification, said in interview that they had been bought by her then partner whom she lived with at the time.
Mike Alexander, mitigating, said his client had had some personal issues and an alcohol problem.
“[The former boyfriend] was responsible for getting the cats, despite her having the ban.
“He insisted they would be good for her mental health.
“He didn’t look after the cats and let her look after them. The cats were looked after but it was a situation effectively forced upon her.”
He added: “In the circumstances that she explained to me I don’t think she has a great culpability.”
Sentencing | 18-month conditional discharge; ordered to pay £121 in costs and victim surcharge. Original 10-year ban expires December 2031.
CONVICTED (2021) | Natasha M Everard, born 1 November 1976, of Burgh Lane, Bratoft, Skegness PE24 5AR – neglected an ailing dog.
Neglectful Everard, owner of Bewitching Bookkeeping Services, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an unnamed dog, by failing to provide him or her with veterinary care.
Everard was ordered to undertake a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. She was ordered to pay a total of £495 in fines, costs and charges and given a five-year ban in respect of all animals.
CONVICTED (2021) | Edward Ernest Lees, born 10 October 1981, of Grange Meadows, Selby, but with a permanent address in Howdales, Louth LN11 7DJ – left five dogs alone in atrocious conditions
Heartless Edward Lees left five dogs to starve in deplorable conditions
Lees was banned from keeping all mammals for 10 years after five elderly dogs were discovered living amongst piles of excrement and empty food bowls.
He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a Jack Russell Terrier named Sam by failing to seek treatment for his severe dental disease, and a further charge of failing to meet the needs of five dogs.
RSPCA Inspector Laura Jones visited the property in Lincolnshire in January 2020 where she could see two Jack Russell terriers at the window and could hear more dogs being kept in an outbuilding.
The next day she returned to find no one had been through the doors for 24 hours, so she contacted the police to gain entry.
She said: “When I opened the door to the sitting room where the two dogs were being kept the stench of ammonia hit me instantly and made my eyes water.
“There was no food or water available in the sitting room for these dogs, I could just see three empty bowls on the floor and two empty 10kg plastic sacks of dog biscuits which were next to a pile of excrement.
“The floor was also wet with what appeared to be urine. The dogs had a red fluffy blanket on the floor and a sofa with exposed rusty springs and there was a significant large pile of dry and wet excrement in the right hand corner of the sitting room.
“This was clearly a totally inadequate environment for these dogs and I was so relieved to be able to take them into our care and bring them to safety to get them the care they needed.”
Inspector Jones and the police discovered three more dogs living in an outbuilding where the entire ground level floor was covered in impacted excrement and a strong stench of faeces and urine. There was a three-seater sofa and an armchair which were both stained and ripped and more empty packets of dog food along the floor.
Inspector Jones added: “There were three empty plastic bowls on top of the excrement and a round yellow plastic container containing brown liquid, and there was a red washing up type plastic bowl with a hole in the side which was full of water.”
The dogs found at the property included a 11-year-old black and white crossbreed male called Ewen, an 11-year-old tan and white crossbred male called Sam, a crossbreed male named Colin, a 12-year-old female crossbreed dog named Jessie and another crossbreed dog called Sheldon.
The dogs were removed and assessed by a vet who found that the tan and white dog Sam was underweight with rotting teeth, gingivitis, severe dehydration, a flea infestation and he weighed around 4kg less than he should.
The vet report concluded: “I feel that Sam was suffering. The suffering included severe dental pain, numerous open wounds, severe dehydration, active infections. His extremely poor body condition meant he was succumbing to organ failure due to lack of any form of nutrition, he had no fat reserves.”
Vets feared that he would have to be put to sleep but thankfully he started to pull through and has since been rehomed.
In mitigation, Lees said that the dogs had initially belonged to a relative but he took them on when they passed away. He was having financial problems and grieving and the situation spiralled out of control. He also entered an early guilty plea.
All five dogs were signed over to the RSPCA’s care and Sam, Colin, Ewen and Jessie were all re-homed. Sadly, Sheldon was put to sleep on advice of a vet due to severe behavioural issues.
Sentencing: 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £395 costs and charges. Disqualified from keeping all mammals for 10 years (expires April 2031).
CONVICTED (2020) | Tamara J Lloyd, born October 1969, of Chapelry Farm, Langrick Road, Lincoln LN4 4XH – failed to meet the needs of dozens of animals living in squalor at her sanctuary
Following an RSPCA prosecution, Tamara Lloyd of The Alternative Animal Sanctuary was found guilty of 16 offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
More than 70 cats, 14 pigs, along with dogs, horses and terrapins were among the animals kept in ‘appalling conditions’ at the sanctuary.
The offences came to light after the RSPCA executed two separate warrants in May 2019 and January 2020.
Lloyd was filmed for a TV documentary shortly before the first raid, with footage showing the chaotic home and outdoor pens overrun by animals. Before the raid she spoke on the Channel 5 programme called ‘The Woman with 106 Dogs’, which aired in June 2020.
During the first warrant, 14 Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were found housed in an area dirty with faeces and urine accumulation and cluttered with debris and hazards.
Seventy cats did not have a suitable environment in which to live. They were surrounded by urine, faeces and ammonia and some had no access to a suitable diet and fresh drinking water
Two cats were found to have suffered failing to seek appropriate veterinary care to explore and address painful ear infections.
Five more cats were found to be suffering with chronic dental disease that not been treated.
A boar had a severely in-grown tusk. This had penetrated through his face and into the oral cavity.
Three dogs were found with untreated infected wounds on their bodies. Another dog, named Flo, had a ligature injury to her leg – again this had not been treated
One dog had matted fur, heavily contaminated with mud, faeces and plant matter. This took two hours to remove while under a general anaesthetic.
Following the first warrant , the RSPCA served Lloyd with several improvement notices. The charity attempted to work with her over several months to reduce the number of animals on the site and to improve the welfare of those remaining. While initially cooperative, Lloyd went on to acquire more animals.
After further welfare concerns and complaints, another raid was carried out in January 2020. The RSPCA confirmed that one dog was found dead and another was put to sleep by the owner’s vet.
Witnesses described the conditions on site as ‘appalling’. Dead rats were found in the animals’ accommodation along with overflowing litter trays, stagnant dirty water and hazardous objects.
Eleven dogs were found inside the main living quarters of the house, which was described as uncomfortably warm with a strong smell of ammonia and pools of urine on the floor. There was heavy faecal and urine soiling throughout the downstairs with dirty bedding, empty food containers, a lack of sufficient water, and hazards such as general clutter, rubbish and exposed nails.
A three-legged dog was found in a dark kennel with little ventilation, which was soiled with faeces and urine.
Lloyd also did not take reasonable steps in all the circumstances to meet the needs of seven cats for a suitable environment in which to live.
Seven cats were kept in a poorly ventilated area littered with the bodies of dead rats. Again there were overflowing litter trays, and faeces and urine over the floor. The area was cluttered and hazardous. .
Two pigs had not been provided with a suitable diet including access to drinking water or a suitable environment in which to live.
The adult Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were found to be obese and living in an area where faeces and urine had accumulated as well as debris and hazards, and dead rats, one of which was being chewed by the pigs. There was no provision of clean drinking water for the pigs and the feed for them was not suitable as was evidenced by their obese state.
Ten terrapins were found in an environment detrimental to their health and well-being. A vet noted that “slime and sludge covered the surface of the stagnant water, dead maggots were seen in excessive numbers floating on and under the water” The vet described the smell from the water and building as “putrid” and said that all had suffered for some considerable time due to their squalid environment, and were severely immuno-suppressed.
Vets deemed the animals to be suffering with obvious signs of disease and ill health and the animals were removed.
In his verdict, District Judge Peter Veits said:
“I find that [Lloyd] started with good intentions and clearly believed in the sanctity of life for her animals, but her issue here has been that she simply cannot say no.
“She needed to recognise that as a sole owner of the premises that her capacity to meet the needs of animals was limited. She either needed staff or less animals and by choosing to carry on she has undermined her sole purpose in that her failures have contributed to the suffering of animals.”
Lloyd was convicted of 16 offences and acquitted on one charge.
Sentencing: two-year conditional discharge; costs and victim surcharge. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years.Lloyd has lodged an appeal.
CONVICTED (2020) | career criminal Byron David Toyne, aka Baz Toyne, born 1 December 1984, of Keddington Road, Louth LN11 0AA – attacked and fatally injured a hamster during a violent domestic incident
Byron Toyne, who goes by the first name Baz
Byron Toyne, whose previous convictions include harassment and assault, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the hamster, known as Nibbles, by throwing and shaking him. Toyne claimed he was unaware the hamster was in the cage.
We understand that Nibbles’ owner only took him to the vet four days after the incident where he was diagnosed with a broken back and put to sleep. She was not prosecuted for her failure to seek prompt treatment for the stricken pet.
Toyne also admitted criminal damage to a bicycle wheel, art box, leaning board and canvas picture belonging to a Louth woman on the same day.
Sentencing: community order which includes 170 hours of unpaid work. Total costs and charges of £175. He was not banned from owning animals.
CONVICTED (2011) | Shaun Hewson, born 25 July 1985, from Louth in Lincolnshire – stamped on two kittens, killing them, and kicked their mother to “prove” how much he hated cats.
In July 2011 Hewson stamped on and killed two four-week-old kittens to “prove” how much he hated cats. He also kicked the kittens’ mother, one-year-old Stewie.
Stewie and her kittens before they were attacked by twisted Shaun Hewson
The court heard that the vicious and unprovoked attack occurred during a drinking session at the home of the cats’ owner, Frances Ashman.
Hewson, who as of December 2020 continues to work as a binman for East Lindsey District Council, kicked the adult mother cat “for no reason” lifting her upwards off the floor “like a football”.
Miss Ashman told him: “Don’t kick my cat.” He shouted: “I hate cats. You know I hate cats.” She asked him to leave but he refused and told her: “I’ll show you how much I hate cats.”
He went over to where four kittens were sitting and stamped on two of them, Maddie and Bella. One of the kittens suffered a fractured hind leg and a haemorrhage, and the other a fractured skull. Hewson told Miss Ashman: “That’s how much I hate cats.”
Miss Ashman later said: “The cats had done nothing to harm Shaun all night. This was a cool, calm, calculated attack. I have no doubt he meant to kill those kittens. He clearly has something wrong with him to do something like this.”
Hewson’s lawyer denied that his client was an “animal hater”. He realised, however, that he had to control his “binge drinking” and had cut back since the night of the attack.
He was ordered to pay £400 compensation to Miss Ashman for the “loss and distress” caused and £85 costs.
Sentence: 14-week suspended prison sentence; 200 hours’ unpaid work; £400 compensation to Miss Ashman and £85 costs. Five-year ban on keeping animals (expired 2016).
