CONVICTED (2023) | Crufts-winning dog breeder and pet boarder Linda Moran, her husband John Moran, and relative Stephen Laidlaw all of A1 Boarding Kennels and Cattery, Thorpe House, Gatherley Road, Brompton On Swale, Richmond DL10 7JH – kept more than 100 animals in stinking, dirty and inadequate conditions.
Local authority animal welfare inspectors visiting the premises of Linda and John Moran’s kennels and cattery found scores of dogs and three cats whose care was so poor they immediately revoked the dog breeding and dog and cat boarding licences held for the premises.
Amy Wennington, prosecuting for North Yorkshire Council, said its inspectors and a vet found more than 100 dogs at the premises in accommodation reeking of urine, with piles of dog poo, missing or inadequate bedding, and contaminated or no water.
There was no evidence that the dogs had been exercised or groomed or had access to play items.
Some of the dogs had matted and filthy hair.
There were also three cats, two of whom were in such poor medical condition they had to be put down.
Linda Moran, who bred Dogues de Bordeaux and Lhaso Apsos under the name Aibrean, pleaded guilty to six charges of breaching her licence conditions: two involved having too many dogs without sufficient staff to look after them, two of keeping dogs in unfit accommodation and not caring correctly for them, and two of not providing toys, socialising opportunities and grooming.
York magistrates heard she exhibited her own dogs and won awards at dog shows around the country, including two at Crufts 2022, six months before the first of two inspections.
For Linda Moran, John Goodwin said: “Her whole life centres around the love and care of dogs.”
He said that conditions at the kennels and cattery had deteriorated because she had taken in a lot of rescue dogs after the pandemic.
“She just couldn’t say no and matters overwhelmed her,” he said.
Her husband John Moran, who was also on the dog breeding licence, had moved to Spain for a better climate as he has terminal lung cancer.
Moran is now working with the RSPCA to reduce the number of dogs on her site and to ensure they are looked after properly, said the solicitor.
She now has 22 dogs and is expecting to reduce the number to 17 in the next six months. She is not taking in rescue dogs, said the solicitor.
He handed in an expert’s report giving details of conditions at the kennels and cattery in July 2023, which concluded that Linda Moran could look after dogs properly.
Magistrates ordered her to pay a total of £3,190, consisting of £2,100 fines, a £840 statutory surcharge and £250 prosecution costs.
They declined a prosecution application to ban her from keeping animals.
They said Moran had taken sufficient action to ensure that she was addressing the issues that had given rise to the prosecution and she was no longer taking in rescue dogs.
John Moran pleaded guilty by letter to three charges of breaching the boarding licence regarding the number of dogs on the premises, their living conditions and their care, was fined £1,050 and ordered to pay a £420 statutory surcharge and £250 prosecution costs.
Stephen Laidlaw was not present in court and did not enter a plea to three charges of breaching the breeding licence. The court heard that although he jointly held the breeding licence with Linda Moran, the council’s inspectors had never seen him on the site. He was convicted in his absence and was ordered to pay a £1,500 fine, a £600 statutory surcharge and £250 prosecution costs.
In April 2023 North Yorkshire Council announced that A1 Boarding Kennels and Cattery was no longer licenced either for the breeding of dogs or kennelling of cats. It was also reported that the business is the subject of an investigation into suspected modern slavery. offences
Additional Information
In 2005 the same premises was raided by RSPCA officers and 70 animals taken from the centre while investigations were carried out.
Ultimately the RSPCA decided not to prosecute the Morans with the couple going on to take legal action against the animal charity on the grounds that they lost business and suffered emotional trauma.
The RSPCA was called to the kennels by police on December 15, 2005, after a customer who called in to pick up their cat failed to find anyone on the premises.
Police found Linda Moran collapsed in the house and she was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Police officers then called in the RSPCA, whose inspectors said the conditions they found many of the animals in were “deplorable”.
Speaking at the time, Gerry Palmer, of the RSPCA, said: “It’s poor quality, dirty conditions that we found the dogs in. There were dogs running all over the place.”
In an exclusive interview with local newspaper The Northern Echo the Morans claimed the dogs had only been left unattended for one night.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: “We are not pursuing a prosecution. Officers worked extremely hard at the scene in a bid to safeguard the welfare of those animals in very trying circumstances.
The outcome of the Morans’ case against the RSPCA is not known but recent anecdotal evidence on social media points to animal welfare being of very low priority at A1 Boarding Kennels and Cattery with many former customers raising concerns about the treatment of their pets .
