CONVICTED (2009) | Harry Clay, born 22 September 1989, of Darracott Road, Bournemouth BH5 – tormented a hamster and eventually killed her by throwing her against a wall.
Ever heard the saying “pick on someone your own size”? Well it’s a pity that Harry Clay from Bournemouth and one-time student of fishery management at Sparsholt College in Hampshire didn’t take heed. The tiny creature he tortured to death was a dwarf hamster named Smudge.
Clay began by tormenting Smudge, who belonged to another student, throwing her up in the air several times and catching her, before dropping her to the ground from a height of 15 feet. Another student picked up the stricken hamster, but Clay grabbed her back and threw her against a wall, finally killing her.
Finally he picked up the little corpse and dropped it into a dustbin.
After a three-day trial, Clay was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a hamster under section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2007.
The principal of Sparsholt College said that they viewed “any form of animal cruelty with the utmost seriousness”. They did not, however, expel Clay but instead said they would try to ensure that “he re-learns the vital lessons of care and respect for all animals”.
Let’s hope they got through to him.
Sentencing | 12-month supervision order; 150 hours of community work. Banned from keeping hamsters for a year.
#MostEvil | Amersham horse trader James John Gray (05/09/1963), wife Julie Cordelia Gray (24/05/1967) and daughters Jodie June Gray (12/09/1982) and Cordelia Gray (29/05/1988) and James Gray junior (23/01/1993) – left more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys to starve among the rotting carcasses of other animals
Clockwise from top left: James Gray Sr, Julie Gray, Cordelia Gray, Jodie Gray, court protestors, James Gray Jr
In a case veterinary expert witness described as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen, 31 equines were found dead at Spindle Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham. Some 111 other horses, ponies and donkeys were rescued.
The massive rescue was co-ordinated by Thames Valley Police, Trading Standards and the RSPCA with help from the Horse Trust, the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), Redwings Horse Sanctuary and the Blue Cross
James Gray Sr is banned for life from keeping equine animals
Hooves and body parts of horses that had been left to die were scattered around and a grotesque mound made up of bones and skulls was discovered.
The horror scene was uncovered when RSPCA inspectors were called to the farm, where a horse-trading business run by the Gray family was based.
James Gray Jr
There were 140 animals at the farm and many were left with little food or dry bedding, were crammed into pens and ankle-deep in their own faeces.
Jodie Gray, aka Jodie Keet, with son Tommy Gray
In total 115 animals, some severely emaciated, had to be rescued and removed from the farm during a huge operation in January 2009.
Robert Seabrook QC told the court how two RSPCA inspectors visiting the farm in January 2008 were confronted with a “grotesque and distressing state of affairs”.
He said a number of horses were discovered in “disgusting pens”, some were tethered individually and others were loose in the paddocks.
The most extraordinary aspect he said was that many horses were next to carcasses in varying states of decomposition and the smell of rotting flesh was “over-powering”.
He added: “A number of animals that were found had plainly been dead for a number of days and as it turns out, some for many months.”
Julie Gray
The court heard in one pen three severed hooves were found alongside the bodies of two other horses.
James Gray Sr was convicted of nine charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
His son James Gray Jr was convicted of identical charges although two were later overturned on appeal.
Gray’s wife, Julie, and daughters Cordelia and Jodie were found guilty of the two charges of failing to protect the animals.
No member of the family showed any sign of emotion as the judge passed sentence.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Hampton described the conditions the horses were kept in as “grotesque”.
Speaking after the sentencing, Hampton said: “The RSPCA is pleased the district judge has recognised the extent of the cruelty, neglect and the suffering endured by the animals in this case.
“We see the disqualifications from keeping horses as an effective measure to prevent animals suffering in future.”
Sentencing: James Gray Sr was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from keeping horses, ponies and donkeys for life. He was also ordered to pay £400,000. Gray was given a further two months after absconding from court. Two of Gray’s convictions were overturned in 2010, but Gray was ordered to pay £600,000 towards the RSPCA’s legal costs and faced financial ruin. A later appeal against what Gray claimed were disproportionate legal costs was rejected.
James Gray Junior was given an 18-month supervision order. He was banned from keeping equines for 10 years with right of appeal after five (ban expired June 2019).
Julie, Jodie and Cordelia Gray were each given 150 hours of community service. They were also banned from keeping equines for 10 years, with the right of appeal after five (bans expired June 2019).
Julie Gray was ordered to pay £750 in costs, and Cordelia Gray and Jodie Gray £500 each.
James Gray and Cordelia Gray, 57 Narcot Road, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4DF Julie Cordelia Gray, 15 Weller Road, Amersham HP6 6LQ James Gray Jr, Chalk Hill Farm, Chalk Lane, Hyde Heath, Amersham HP6 5SA Jodie June Gray (also known as Jodie Keet), 14 Middle Meadow, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4QS
Update September 2021
The Bucks Free Press reported that James Gray was let off £200,000-worth of fines due to bankruptcy.
Gray was ordered to pay more than £1million in fines and court costs and has served jail time since he was convicted of multiple animal welfare offences in 2008.
He attempted to appeal the convictions at London’s High Court in 2013, but although two of his 11 original convictions were overturned, he was ultimately unsuccessful and had another £200,000 added to his legal bill.
In August 2021, Gray, of 57 Narcot Road in Chalfont St Giles, had £223,453-worth of fines written off.
Documents attached to the court listing state that the amount was remitted due to Gray being bankrupt, having served prison time, and the RSPCA refusing the money.
In 2014, Gray was hauled back before the courts and was jailed for four-and-a-half years after he fleeced pensioners out of thousands of pounds for cowboy building works.
In an attempt to raise funds to pay off his fines and court costs, Gray conned an 88-year-old former British Library academic out of £20,000 for work which experts valued at just £150.
He drained £18,000 out of another 80-year-old victim’s account, leaving him with just £300 after repeatedly demanding money from him. This victim died just months after the money was found to be missing.
Gray, who had done this work under the fake name ‘Joseph De Paula’, admitted two counts of fraud by false representation before he was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court.
CONVICTED (2008) | Simon Evans, born 4 December 1967, of Pencader, Carmarthenshire, and Peter William McGuigan, born 14 May 1970 of Moelhedog Isaf, Pontsian, Llandysul SA44 4UB – caught badger-baiting with dogs
Badger baiters Simon Evans (left) and Peter McGuigan
Evans and McGuigan went equipped with dogs, nets and tracking devices to hunt badgers in October 2006.
A nearby landowner heard a commotion and called police.
When officers arrived a limp badger was found in the mouth of a lurcher dog belonging to them and a metre-deep hole had been dug close to a badger sett.
It was claimed the men had flushed out a badger and then watched for sport as their dogs fought it.
The pair were found guilty of four out of five charges brought by the RSPCA.
Simon Evans
Sentencing the duo, district judge Mark Layton said the matters were so serious only a custodial sentence was justified.
He said the only explanation as to why they had gone badger baiting at woodland near Boncath, Pembrokeshire, on 14 October 2006 was “for some sort of enjoyment”.
But he said how anyone could enjoy such “sickening and appalling acts of cruelty” was “quite incomprehensible”.
Sentencing: six-month suspended jail sentence; 240 hours of community work. £4,000 each in costs. Banned from keeping dogs for seven years (expired April 2015).
CONVICTED (2007) | Ricardo Byfield, born c. 1980, and wife Lisa Elizabeth Harvey, born 24/02/1973, previously of Whitton Avenue West, Northolt, Ealing, but as of 2020 of St Johns House, Lytham Street, Walworth, London SE17 2PW – illegally bred pit bull terriers to use in organised dog fights.
Lisa Harvey and Ricardo Byfield kept a pack of scarred fighting dogs at their one-bedroom council property in Northolt, Ealing
Career criminal Ricardo Byfield and wife Lisa Harvey were prosecuted under the Dangerous Dog Act 1991 and the Protection of Animals Act 1911.
Following a tip-off by neighbours, police raided the couple’s house in August 2006 to rescue 26 dogs. Most were pit bulls but three Dogues de Bordeaux, a rottweiler and a Staffordshire bull terrier were also found.
The animals were found locked in cages around the one-bedroomed council home, which doubled as a dog-training gym.
The dogs were found covered in scars from vicious dog-fights and some were marked on documents as “Champion” or “Grand Champion” – meaning they had won several fights.
Police mugshot of dog fighter Ricardo Byfield
Puppies aged between two weeks and four months old were also rescued in the raid.
A makeshift treadmill which officers believe was used to exercise the dogs and build up their powerful shoulder muscles was also recovered.
Byfield admitted 19 counts of possession and breeding of dangerous dogs and Harvey admitted one charge of possession and breeding of dangerous dogs.
Chairman of the bench Jeffrey Bonn said it was clear both Byfield and Harvey had been actively involved in dog fighting and breeding dogs over a substantial period of time.
“We owe the public the right to be protected from the possibility of these animals escaping and causing harm, which we are in no doubt was a very real possibility,” he said.
An order to destroy 19 pit bull dogs, made by prosecutor Noel Watkins, was unopposed by their owners and upheld by the court.
Sentencing: six months in jail. Lifetime ban on owning or keeping dogs. Byfield was ordered to pay £500 and Harvey to pay £250.
