CONVICTED (2017) | Dean Philip Rigley, born 13/11/1984, of Saffron Gardens, Nottingham NG2 1QF – left a ferret without food or water in a metal cage in his car on the hottest day of the year
Dean Rigley was jailed after his pet ferret died in his car when he left her as temperatures outside reached 40°C inside.
With no water and no fresh air the ferret died of hyperthermia in her metal cage where she was found the next morning.
A vet concluded she would have suffered for hours before dying in Rigley’s Fiesta at a car park in Holgate, Notts.
Rigley admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
The court heard the RSPCA were called to an anglers’ car park in Clifton, Nottingham, on July 20, 2016. after a passerby saw the dead ferret in the cage.
Prosecutor Paul Wright said: ‘The ferret was in a wire cage on the front passenger seat. There was no water in the cage. The ferret looked lifeless.
‘It was curled up with no water and nobody was in the vehicle.’
The animal had dried blood around its mouth and nose, a symptom of ‘hypothermia due to overheating’.
When questioned, Rigley said he had been given the ferret only 24 hours before.
Buckley, defending, said: ‘He said to the inspector how sorry he was for what happened. It was largely an accident.
‘At the time, he was not living at a settled address and spent a lot of time sleeping in his car and sofa surfing.
‘He had the ferret for only about a day and was given it by a colleague. He had been given a food bowl, milk and planned to keep it for the long term.
‘He went to stay at a friend’s house and accepts this was the hottest day of the year.
‘His car was in the shade but because it was such a hot day it didn’t afford the animal any protection. When he was relayed the fate of the animal, he was very upset.
‘Everyone is aware of what happens to dogs in hot cars but as far as other animals are concerned, it is by no means obvious.’
Sentencing: six weeks in jail. Ordered to pay a total of £215.
CONVICTED (2016) | Jamie George Barnes, born 27 November 1980, previously of Fosse Farm, Fosse Road, Bingham, Nottingham and as of 2022 of 109 Carnarvon Place, Nottingham NG13 8FR – his terriers suffered appalling facial injuries while being used to “hunt foxes”.
Father-of-four Barnes was given an 18-month ban on keeping dogs after his terriers were injured in “fox holes”.
RSPCA inspectors found Barnes’ Patterdale terriers Ronnie and Striker had a variety of facial injuries. One dog had a deformed and twisted jaw with missing lips and gums. Barnes had treated the injuries himself at home instead of taking the dogs to a vet.
The Patterdale terriers had severe facial injuries that had not been treated by a vet.The judge said facial injuries to Patterdale terriers Ronnie and Striker must have caused severe pain – and the dogs should have been taken to the vets rather than treated by Barnes at his home.
The injuries resulted from the dogs being sent down foxholes. A photo was produced in court of Barnes standing with his dogs and holding up a dead fox.
Harry Bowyer, prosecuting, asked him: “These dogs should have been taken to the vet, whether what you were doing was lawful or not, a duty you shirked.”
Barnes answered: “I would never ever see any dog suffer.”
Stephen Welford, defending, said Barnes was well able to care for his dogs and had medications at his home. The RSPCA had seized 13 dogs when raiding his home and returned seven to him.
He told Nottingham Magistrates’ Court: “He has worked terriers for many many years.
“The dogs that were returned to him demonstrate clearly that his husbandry is still good. The dogs were in a good bodily condition. He has treated his dogs and sought appropriate veterinary care.
“He sees these injuries when working these terriers and has become immune to the seriousness of it,” added Mr Welford.
Barnes pictured during his court appearance.
For the defence, vet Stephen Lomax, a member of the pro-hunt group Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management, disputed an RSPCA claim that one injury was “more severe than having your chin ripped off.” Lomax said the injuries should not be regarded as severe because the dogs’ lives were not at risk.
Barnes was found guilty of two charges of causing unnecessary suffering by failing to get veterinary treatment for his dogs between February and April 2014. He was cleared of two other charges.
District Judge Tim Spruce said facial injuries to Ronnie and Striker must have caused severe pain. He said: “Deformed jaws, missing lips and gums are likely to necessitate significant pain relief and interventions”.
He told Barnes: “You failed to get appropriate treatment.
“There was significant pain and suffering. You failed to provide a proper and appropriate duty of care in a timely fashion.”
The court heard that Barnes eventually hoped to set up a pest control business using terriers to control vermin at a poultry farm and at a pheasant shoot where “poison or guns” were unsuitable.
Sentencing | 12-week prison term suspended for a year; 80 hours of unpaid community work. Banned from keeping dogs for 18 months (expired early 2018).
Screenshots from serial wildlife persecutor (and BADGER BAITER) Jamie Barnes’ Facebook account from late 2019 onwards lay bare the reality of his sadistic bloodlust.
Update October 2022
Jamie Barnes was back in court after being caught digging at an active badger sett. Barnes, whose address was given as Caernarvon Place in Bingham, Nottingham, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court alongside Ben Lloyd Davies, born c 1989, of Cwm Mawr in Belan, Welshpool SY1 8SQ.
The pair were found guilty after trial of interfering with badger setts at a farm in Wrexham in August 2021.
Jon Tarrant, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said police were alerted to two males “digging into an alleged badger sett” near Maelor Wood. On arrival at the site, an officer confirmed with the landowner that he had given permission for a hunt on his land the next day – but hadn’t consented to any activity that day.
He drove the police officer to the location, where a pair of quadbikes were parked in the trees and a “large hole” had been made.
A locator collar was spotted on a pile of soil. Barnes was lying on his stomach reaching into the hole, with Davies crouching next to him. When asked what they were doing, Barnes said: “I’m rescuing the dog – we put it down after a fox and lost it.”
He claimed they’d had to dig to find the dog, but later showed the officer that the dog was already in a box on the back of a quadbike – “covered in mud, shaking and with a cut on its nose which looked like a bite from another animal.”
Two main entrances to the sett were found nearby, and according to Barnes the dog had been put down one.
It had then returned and the men had started digging to the last location of the locator collar.
Barnes told the officer the sett wasn’t active, and that they had been digging for about two hours before they were interrupted.
He admitted that if the police had not been called, they would have carried on instead of backfilling the hole.
Upon examining the hole, the officer found clear evidence that the end chamber of a badger sett was at the bottom. It was also clear that fresh bedding was strewn in the area and there were badger trails leading in and around the sett – as well as a badger latrine which was still wet.
The court heard that at the time, Barnes had been employed by the Wynnstay Hunt, and “had been asked to get a rogue fox” ahead of the following day’s hunt.
The court was told that Davies was a man of previous good character, but Barnes had a relevant conviction for causing suffering to an animal, which concerned untreated facial injuries on his dogs.
In mitigation, the court heard both men had broadly accepted the events as set out by the prosecution.
However Barnes had believed he had authority to attend the site under hunting legislation exemptions given the permitted plans for the following day. He did not. Davies went along to assist him, the court heard.
Neither of the defendants – described as “hard working family men” – had appreciated the sett showed signs of current use, but “have to accept they were wrong.”
The court heard the offence had required “nothing more than recklessness” and that while their actions had damaged an end chamber, they hadn’t damaged the entrances or prevented use of the sett by the badger population.
Sentencing | each fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a total of £700 in costs and surcharge.
#MostEvil | Richard Tony Cooper, born 04/09/1985, of Marlwood, Cotgrave and more recently (2023) of Fosse Walk, Cotgrave NG12 3NZ – kicked and beat a beagle puppy to death.
Puppy killer Richard Cooper, who works as a groundkeeper with Notts County FC. The club ignored animal lovers’ appeals to fire Cooper and as of June 2020 he still works there.
Notts County FC groundsman Cooper attacked the seven-month-old pet, called Bella, after she allegedly bit him. The puppy was left with horrific injuries, including a ruptured liver, cracked ribs and internal bleeding.
When Cooper realised that the dog was seriously injured he called his girlfriend and asked for her to be taken to the vet – but the puppy could not be saved and had to be put down.
Cooper had initially claimed he only kicked the dog once – but the vet found injuries which suggested more than one blow “with fist or kick” and said the rib fractures were worse than some seen in road accidents.
At the surgery, the dog’s breathing was very laboured; she was unresponsive and kept trying to lie on her side.
Victim Bella
District Judge Leo Pyle told Cooper: “Having an animal in your care brings with it responsibilities. This was a puppy months old and puppies bite.
“On this occasion, this puppy bit your hand and doubtless you were in considerable pain. But what you did was completely disproportionate.
“This level of injury makes it patently obvious this puppy was struck more than once.
“Only you know how many times and what with. That directly caused this extremely painful death.”
Sentence: nine-week prison term, suspended for a year, £2,626 costs, 100 hours of unpaid work. Banned for life from keeping animals – although he can appeal for the ban to be lifted after just five years.
