Tag Archives: Hinckley and Bosworth

Cats, Hoarders

Burbage, Leicestershire: Teresa Hawtin

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CONVICTED (2024) | cat hoarder Teresa Hawtin, born c. 1975, of Duport Road, Burbage, Hinckley LE10 – kept 58 felines in a faeces- and urine-covered flat.

RSPCA prosecution of cat hoarder Teresa Hawtin, from Burbage, Hinckle, Leicestershire. Image: RSPCA.

Two of the 58 cats found at Hawtin’s flat were were dead when the RSPCA entered the property. A third cat was put to sleep after being transferred into the charity’s care.

Hawtin claimed to be a “caring cat lover” who had previously run a cat rescue service.

However, in the preceding six months or so, the number of cats she was looking after had “increased dramatically” due to people asking her to “take in stray cats and cats that had been abandoned”.

RSPCA prosecution of cat hoarder Teresa Hawtin, from Burbage, Hinckle, Leicestershire. Image: RSPCA.

RSPCA Inspector Helen Smith said Hawtin’s flat in Shilton Road, in Barwell, Leicester, was “one of the worst properties” she had attended in her 25 years as an inspector. She added the smell of urine and faeces was “overpowering”, with excrement covering “every surface” in the flat except for a small sofa.

Litter trays were overflowing, she said, and there were pools of diarrhoea on the floor. There were also “hundred of flies alive and dead”, the RSPCA said.

All of the remaining cats have since been re-homed, the charity added.

Ms Smith said: “The environment was completely unsuitable, and the smell from the ammonia was overpowering.

“The defendant also claimed she had run a cat rescue, but the conditions these cats were kept in were completely inappropriate for such a large number of cats.

“The RSPCA had tried to help the defendant on a large number of occasions – but she chose to ignore any offers of support.”

Hawtin was well known in her local area for collecting cats

Hawtin pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the needs of the majority of the cats were met, and failing to ensure they had a suitable, hygienic and safe environment. She was found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering and of not providing timely and appropriate veterinary treatment for eight of them.

She told the court she had tried her best and felt those eight cats did not need veterinary treatment at the point at which she was looking after them, prior to the RSPCA attending. She added that she realised there were too many to look after and that was the reason she signed them over to the care of the RSPCA.

Sentencing | ordered to pay £100 in costs, a fine of £230 and a victim surcharge of £92. Banned from keeping cats for just two years (expires March 2026).

LeicestershireLive

Animal Abandonment, farms / smallholdings, Food Production, Lifers, Serial Animal Abusers

Ratby, Leicestershire: Richard Brooks and Tracey Jarvis

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CONVICTED (2022) | previous offender Richard F Brooks, born c. 1962, and partner Tracey Jarvis, born c. 1960, both of Holywell Farm, Desford Lane, Ratby, Leicester LE6 0LF – breached a ban by keeping three cows as pets.

Brooks admitted keeping the animals at his farm when he was banned from doing so because of a neglect case 15 years ago.

The conviction for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal in 2007 saw him disqualified from having any role in caring for large farm animals after one of his cows was left up to its belly in deep mud for several days.

The stranded animal was rescued but had to be put down as a result.

Meanwhile Jarvis, who owned the cows, named Tufty, Buttercup and Brian, admitted three breaches of animal registration rules by not informing government officials she was keeping and caring for them.

The animals remain in her care at their new farm in Dadlington, just north of Hinckley.

The court heard from Kevin Barry, prosecuting on behalf of Leicestershire Trading Standards, how Brooks had been banned from keeping cows after the 2007 incident and was obviously fully aware of his ban, as he had made repeated attempts to get it lifted since October 2016.

Mr Barry said: “Mr Brooks could have been in no doubt he was disqualified for assisting Miss Jarvis with keeping her three cows.”

He said that after she bought Tufty in November 2015, Jarvis had failed to tell officials she was using Holywell Farm to keep cattle.

And then in May 2017 when Brian was born through artificial insemination, she failed to inform the authorities of the birth within 28 days, committing the same offence again when Buttercup was born in May 2018.

Mr Barry said: “The authorities have to be aware where cows are being kept. It’s an offence for a keeper of cattle not to register the keeping of cattle on a holding.

“It’s also an offence to fail to register the birth of a calf.”

Kevin McCole, representing the couple, said Jarvis was a former school administrator with no previous knowledge of farming who had taken a liking to Tufty after seeing the cow on an adjoining farm.

Mr McCole said: “She loved the look of it and it was acquired as a pet. Those three cows are loved by Tracey Jarvis and are her pets.

“She would hope that because of the attachment she has to those cows that she can continue looking after them.”

He said she had tried to complete the proper registrations but had failed to ensure she had done it properly because she was “naive”.

Margaret Edun-Fotwe, chairman of the bench, told the Brooks his offence was “very serious”.

He was fined £270, ordered to pay £3,300 in costs and a £21 victim surcharge.

Jarvis will have to pay a £311 fine, £2,000 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

They were given 28 days to pay the £5,917 total.

Leicester Mercury

Animal Abandonment, Dogs, Lifers, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders, Worst of the Worst

Newbold Verdon/Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire: Sam, Hazel and Damon Hessin

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CONVICTED (2013) | Sam Hessin, born 15/11/1973, and daughter Hazel Hessin, born 08/12/1994, both of Cadle Street, Leicester LE9 9PA, plus son Damon Hessin (aka Damon Taylor), born 02/07/1991, now of Belvoir Street, Melton Mowbray LE13 1QA – left eight puppies to starve to death in a room in their home

The vile Hessin family from Leicestershire, who locked puppies in a kitchen and left them to starve to death
The vile Hessin family from Leicestershire, who locked puppies in a room and left them to starve to death

This wicked bunch of reprobates are the Hessin family previously all of Melton Mowbray.

Together they are responsible for the death by starvation of eight Staffordshire bull terrier puppies.

The trio barricaded the helpless dogs inside the kitchen of their family home at Wren Close, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and over the next few weeks ignored their desperate howls.

Some of the dogs survived longer by eating the others. Neighbours heard the puppies’ cries but did precisely nothing until it was too late.

Sam and Hazel Hessin
Hazel Hessin with mother Sam Hessin

On 1 May 2013 RSPCA officers raided the Hessins’ home after a tip-off from the family’s landlady. Investigators were shocked to find the rotting remains of the dogs, including two puppies’ SKULLS, in the kitchen.

Prosecutors told magistrates: ‘When the inspector walked into the kitchen the smell was rancid and putrid, to her horror she saw the puppies were in advanced stages of decomposition, on a urine stained bed.

‘Dog faeces was several inches thick and everything in the kitchen was in a total state of disarray.

‘The vet estimated the puppies would have been about six months old when they died. The sight and smell of them was shocking and deeply distressing.’

Damon Hessin, who is now known as Damon Taylor
Damon Hessin is now known as Damon Taylor

Despite the horrific outcome of their actions, the sentence passed on the vile family by Leicester Magistrates’ Court in December 2013 was typically lenient.

Damon and Hazel Hessin were both banned from keeping animals for life and given suspended sentences Their mother was given an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and told to pay an £80 victim surcharge. She was also banned from keeping animals for life.

SWNS
RSPCA