Tag Archives: trading standards

Dogs, Lifers, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders

Fleur de Lis, Caerphilly: Colin and Ruth Williams

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CONVICTED (2024) | unlicensed backyard breeders Colin Williams, born c. 1977, and Ruth Williams ( née Ruth Sanders), born c. 1972, of Glanddu Road, Fleur de Lis, Blackwood NP12 3XT – for a catalogue of animal cruelty offences towards dogs and puppies they exploited for money.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

The couple were prosecuted followed an investigation by Caerphilly County Borough Council trading standards.

Together with officers from Gwent Police, a veterinary surgeon, and officials from neighbouring councils, a warrant was executed at the Williams’ home address in June 2023. The premises was suspected of being used for unlicensed dog breeding.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

Three French bulldogs, two British bulldogs and two cavalier King Charles spaniels were found severely confined in pens in one room with no access to water.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

One of the pens, which housed two other dogs was in an alcove under the stairs. The conditions provided insufficient space with the animals having no stimulation and unable to show normal behaviour.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

All nine dogs had conditions which caused them unnecessary suffering. The dogs were found to be suffering from skin, eye, ear and airway diseases.

The dogs were seized after being looked at by the vet and placed into the care of Hope Rescue. They have since been rehomed.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

Colin Williams, who used to run a business called Valley Ultrasound and Microchipping and now works as a window cleaner, admitted 17 charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and one charge under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 for not declaring he was a breeder when he advertised the dogs’ sale.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.
Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

He also admitted a charge under the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (Wales) Order 2007 of the Animal Health Act 1981, for illegally taking two pregnant dogs to Heathrow Airport.

Ruth Williams admitted 15 cruelty charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and a charge under consumer protection law.

Prosecution of prolific backyard breeders Colin Williams and Ruth Williams from Fleur de Lis, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales - for dog cruelty.

Lyndsey Smith, rescue and adoption manager of Hope Rescue Centre, said: “Many of the dogs arrived with health issues so we were shocked to hear they were still being bred from.

“Amongst the group of dogs were a very nervous duo of cavalier bitches. They moved out to foster care together and developed such a lovely relationship – we just had to find them a home where they could stay together.”

Sentencing |
Colin Williams: jailed for four months. Indefinite ban.
Ruth Williams: eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. 10-year ban.
£12,000 costs.

Caerphilly Observer
South Wales Argus

Dogs, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders

Caerphilly, South Wales: Simon Hobbs

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CONVICTED (2024) | backyard breeder Simon Hobbs, born 19 September 1977, of 23 Davies Drive, Caerphilly CF83 3RG – kept neglected and malnourished dogs in inhumane conditions.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

On 8 February 2024 Simon Hobbs pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to five dogs including a pregnant Belgian Malinois.

He was prosecuted following an investigation by Caerphilly Council’s Trading Standards team who executed a number of warrants, in June 2023.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

Trading Standards and Gwent Police officers accompanied by a vet carried out a search of Hobbs’ home and found six dogs in the kitchen with three of them – French bulldogs – housed in a very small cage.

Conditions in the kitchen were cramped, overcrowded and uncomfortable with little room to play, toilet and feed.

The dogs shared one food tray and two bowls of water.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

A pregnant Belgian Malinois was significantly underweight. She gave birth to eight puppies 10 days later.

An Akita was found in an outside lean-to wooden kennel in direct sunlight, with no soft bedding or enrichment. Temperatures recorded early in the day, exceeded 26 degrees, the maximum accepted temperature for dogs.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

Three dogs were found with conditions which caused them unnecessary suffering due to a lack of veterinary intervention and management.

The dogs were removed and placed into the care of Hope Rescue with the Malinois and her litter in need of intensive care to ensure their survival.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

Sara Rosser, Operations Manager of Hope Rescue Centre said, “We were pleased to be able to support the hard work of Caerphilly County Borough Council with this case. It was shocking to see so many dogs living in such awful conditions.

“The dogs needed vet treatment and specialist care – one of the dogs who especially touched and saddened us was the Malinois who we named Jinx.

Local authority prosecution of backyard breeder Simon Hobbs from Caerphilly, South Wales.

“As well as being in an awful condition, she was pregnant. We were very concerned that she would not have the strength to give birth and care for her litter but thanks for the hard work of the Hope Rescue Team, all eight puppies survived, and Jinx is now thriving.

“We are delighted that most of the dogs have already found loving new homes.’

Sentencing | ordered to pay £8,388.73 in fines, costs and a surcharge. He was disqualified from keeping all animals for five years (expires February 2029).

Wales247

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

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire: Ewan Wells

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CONVICTED (2023) | serial offender Ewan David Wells, born c. 1959, of Bridge Farm, Hunningham, Leamington Spa CV33 9EB – for cruelty to sheep and cattle on his farm.

Wells, who was convicted of similar offences in 2011 and 2020, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a sheep, failing to clean out the areas where his animals were housed and failing to protect his animals from pain, suffering, injury, and disease.

The prosecution was brought by Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards.

The offences, which spanned a period between 1st March 2019 and 1st March 2022, were discovered following visits to the farm by Trading Standards Animal Health Officers and APHA Veterinary Inspectors.

One offence related to causing unnecessary suffering to a ewe and the other two to failing to take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of animals for which he was responsible were met to the extent required by good practice.

The court heard that there was a heavy accumulation of muck on the farm, three feet deep in some areas, which would make it difficult for animals, including young calves to walk. In some places muck had reached the same height of the rims of water troughs leading to constant contamination of the water within.

Old, rotten hay and silage had been left at the bottom of a feed ring from which animals were seen eating and in some areas silage and fodder beets were fed from the floor where they were contaminated with faeces.

A shed containing around 200 ewes and some new born lambs had insufficient numbers of water buckets or other water provisions.

Cattle buildings were in poor repair and cattle had access to areas of the farm that had barbed wire on the floor and piles of scrap metal.

Wells’ farm was inspected after he had been prosecuted in 2020 for causing unnecessary suffering to a cow. When problems were found, the tenant farmer was given an opportunity to put things right but failed to do so.

Sentencing | 16 week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months; 15-day rehabilitation requirement; contribution of £6000 towards prosecution costs and £122 victim surcharge. Disqualified indefinitely from owning, keeping or participating in the care of any animals except domestic dogs and cats (can appeal after 28 June 2028).

Warwickshire County Council

farms / smallholdings, Food Production, Serial Animal Abusers, Worst of the Worst

Llanfaglan, Gwynedd: Philip Smith

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CONVICTED (2023) | Welsh farmer Philip Edmund Smith, Cefn Ynysoedd, Llanfaglan, Caernarfon LL54 5RA – for multiple animal welfare offences leading to 32 sheep being euthanised.

One of the photographs showing the suffering, injury and disease the endured by the animals at Phillip Smith's farm (Gwynedd Council )

Philip Smith, who was convicted of similar offences in 2013, pleaded guilty to animal welfare breaches and for failure to dispose of sheep remains.

Smith subjected animals to unnecessary suffering and failed to take the appropriate and reasonable steps to secure the needs of the flock. This included the need for animals to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

The court heard that of the 150 sheep seen by officials on his farm, approximately 75% were found to be severely lame and unable to bear weight on at least one limb. Tragically, 32 had to be euthanised due to the severity of their lameness.

One of the photographs showing the suffering, injury and disease the endured by the animals at Phillip Smith's farm (Gwynedd Council )

An album of photographs capturing the shocking conditions and unnecessary suffering of the animals was shown to the court.

Officials were horrified by the condition in which animals were found. It was their opinion that the sheep were experiencing unnecessary pain and suffering; and the defendant should have sought veterinary assistance much earlier.

Animal health officers from Gwynedd’s Trading Standards Service and the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) veterinary team visited the farm several times during July and August 2021 following an anonymous tip-off by a concerned member of the public reporting lame sheep on land at Cefn Ynysoedd.

During the investigation officers from Gwynedd Council’s Trading Standards Service were subjected to threatening and abusive behaviour by Smith.

One of the photographs showing the suffering, injury and disease the endured by the animals at Phillip Smith's farm (Gwynedd Council )

During the initial inspection a collapsed ram was discovered in one farm building. He was severely lame with foot-rot, had severe chronic skin lesions and inflammation of the larynx that would have caused a degree of difficulty breathing. It was the veterinary officer’s opinion that the ram was suffering unnecessarily and needed to be euthanised to prevent any further suffering.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the ram indicated that the skin lesions were likely to have been present for several months and concluded that there was no evidence of paring of the feet to remove the overgrown horn.

Several other sheep were found to be suffering with irreversible foot lesions caused by conditions that may have been treatable had they been identified and treated sooner. Several of the sheep were also suffering from fly strike and had live maggots in their feet.

Sentencing | concurrent suspended prison terms of 26 weeks for the six section 4 Animal Welfare Act offences and 12 weeks for the two section 9 Animal Welfare offences. 20-hour rehabilitation course. Fined £400 for the six Animal By-Product Regulation offences and ordered to pay £4,475 in costs and a victim surcharge of £128. Disqualified from owning, keeping, transporting or dealing in farmed animals for five years (expires June 2028).

Daily Post
Cambrian News

Animal Abandonment, farms / smallholdings, Food Production, Worst of the Worst

Wigglesworth, North Yorkshire: Hayden Fortune

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CONVICTED (2023) | Hayden Walter Fortune, born c. 1975, of Pyethornes Farm, Wigglesworth, Skipton BD23 4SB – for the shocking neglect of pigs and cattle on his farm.

Convicted animal abuser. Farmer Hayden Fortune from Wigglesworth, North Yorkshire
An investigation by North Yorkshire Trading Standards officers revealed appalling neglect and suffering on Hayden Fortune’s farm

Fortune, a councillor with Bolton by Bowland, Gisburn Forest & Sawley Parish Council, was charged with multiple counts of animal health and welfare offences following an investigation by North Yorkshire Trading Standards. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on April 18, 2023.

A visit to Pyethornes Farm by the trading standards animal health team in April 2022 uncovered “dystopian” levels of neglect and suffering with cattle and pigs kept in appalling conditions. No feed, water or dry bedding was available to animals and numerous carcasses were left in various states of decay around the pens, which still housed live animals.

Conditions were so poor that it was not possible to identify the exact number of carcasses on site but it was estimated to exceed 300.

Officers had to climb over mounds of dead pigs to reach pens where surviving animals were standing in knee-deep manure.

Fortune was convicted of numerous offences under the Animal Welfare Act, including:

  • Causing unnecessary suffering to pigs by exposing them to the carcases of others, maintaining them in flooded pens with lurid water, providing no dry area and a lack of feed and drinking water.
  • Having a level of manure in the bovine area that made animal movement difficult, exposing cattle to the carcases of others, providing no dry area, and providing a lack of feed and drinking water.
  • Housing animals in a dangerous environment with hazardous material, including sharp wood and metal.

Sentencing | 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months; £3,000 compensation and £1,000 towards costs. Disqualified from keeping livestock for life.

Telegraph & Argus
North Yorkshire Council

Dogs, Organised Animal Crime, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders, Serial Animal Abusers, Traveller Animal Crimes

Kingswood, Bristol: Attila Kovacs

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CONVICTED (2023|) | repeat offender Attila Kovacs, born c. 1979, of Two Mile Hill Road, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 1BA – for the mistreatment of dogs illegally imported into the UK.

Attila Kovacs illegally imported pregnant dogs and puppies into the UK and kept them in cramped cages in a house in the Kingswood area of Bristol

Hungarian national Attila Kovacs, head of a notorious Bristol-based Roma gypsy crime family, pleaded guilty to multiple charges of causing an animal to suffer in June 2021. He also admitted failing to ensure the welfare of a French Bulldog called Lola and importing, breeding and selling dogs without a local authority licence.

Prosecutor Lee Reynolds told the court: “The defendant was engaged in an unlawful trade involving the importation and sale of puppies between December 2019 and June 2021. The puppies were transported from abroad in appalling conditions and often at a time when they were heavily pregnant.

“When they reached his home, he would keep them in poor conditions such that they had very little light, kept in small cages in a poor condition with dangers surrounding them. The animals were allowed to develop medical conditions and suffer unnecessarily.

“He did not obtain veterinary advice when he clearly ought to. He attempted to conceal his criminal actions through the use of accounts and addresses held in the name of others. Had he applied for a licence to breed he would not have received one such was his lack of care and the poor conditions.”

Attila Kovacs illegally imported pregnant dogs and puppies into the UK and kept them in cramped cages in a house in the Kingswood area of Bristol
Attila Kovacs illegally imported pregnant dogs and puppies into the UK and kept them in cramped cages in a house in the Kingswood area of Bristol

Mr Reynolds said the charges related to the unlawful trade over a considerable period and the conditions in which seven animals were found during a visit to an address in Stanley Road, Warmley, Bristol BS15 on June 29, 2021.

He told the court Kovacs’ offending was aggravated because he was the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order imposed in 2016 following a case involving illegality with regards to the trading and keeping of dogs.

The court heard Kovacs’ activities came to the authorities’ attention when they linked him to the importation of five dogs in poor condition in 2019. A search of the Warmley property linked to him uncovered dogs kept in a shipping container in squalid conditions.

Mr Reynolds said: “Mr Kovacs unlocked the shipping container and the officers and veterinarian entered. Within the locked shipping container were a total of seven dogs in four cages situated at the rear of the container.

“There was also a larger cage just inside the door, which was empty. Attila Kovacs advised that this is where the Rottweiler was kept.

“The cage measured 108cm wide, by 74cm high, by 76cm deep. There was no food, water, or bedding present in the cage.

“When the door was opened it was very dark within the container. Officers tried the light switch, but nothing happened. They were met with a strong smell of stale faeces and urine.

“There were three small windows, two of which were covered with wood panels and one which was very slightly open. These windows provided very little ventilation and very little natural light.

“There were three ‘fly-strips’ hanging from the ceiling, all which were completely covered with dead flies. The floor of the container was scattered with loose rat bait and there were several holes in the floor of the container, where it met the walls.”

Dogs within the container were found to have infections to their ears and eyes, the court heard. Though they had been caused suffering, fortunately all were treatable and survived. Kovacs made no comment when interviewed.

Matthew Comer, defending, said his client – a married father-of-three – had mild learning difficulties and struggled with literacy both in Hungarian and English. Mr Comer said Kovacs had tried to make a legal way of making money for his family and his wife suffered from regular seizures.

All of the dogs rescued were nursed back to health.

Sentencing | 24-month prison sentence suspended for 21 months. 150 hours of unpaid work. Ten-year Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from any future involvement in the importation, sale, advertising or distribution of animals. He is also limited to two domestic pets which must be photographed and microchipped. He must also tell the local authority if he ever moves house.

Bristol Post

In October 2021, Attila Kovac’s son Antonio Ronaldo Emillio Kovacs, born 17 January 2002, and of 46 Stanley Road, Warmley, Bristol BS15 4NX was convicted of similar charges of cruelty to dogs.

Animal abuser: Antonio Kovacs from Bristol. Picture: Facebook
Antonio Kovacs. Picture: Facebook

He was prosecuted after police found 13 dogs being kept in squalid conditions at the Rangeworthy Court Country House Hotel, Church Lane, Rangeworthy, South Gloucestershire.

In addition to a 15-week suspended jail term, Antonio Kovacs was given a 10-year ban on owning animals.

Full details of the case here.

farms / smallholdings, Food Production

Brent Knoll, Somerset: Sally Jones

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CONVICTED (2023) | Sally Victoria Jones, born September 1959, of Meadow Vale, Brent Knoll, Highbridge TA9 4BE – for cruelty offences to cattle on her smallholding.

Jones kept animals in poor and unsafe conditions with a rusty gate and barbed wire. Inspectors also found a collapsed calf in an emaciated condition, which had to be put to sleep

Jones pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the calf and three other charges for failing to ensure that animals had access to a dry lying area, failure to remove or repair sharp edges or protrusions which posed a hazard to livestock, and failure to dispose of animal-by products without ‘ undue delay’.

In addition she admitted breaching biosecurity measures put in place to reduce the risk of spread of Avian Flu.

The case against Jones was brought by Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service following concerns by members of the public.

Sentencing | £307 fine for unnecessary suffering, £184 fine for the lack of dry lying area for her cattle, £184 for the animal-by product offences, £184 fine for the sharp objects in which her cattle and sheep had access and £184 fine for breaching bio security measures in place to reduce the risk of spread of avian influenza. She was also ordered to pay £3,495 in legal costs and a £104 victim surcharge. Lifetime ban on keeping cattle.

SomersetLive

farms / smallholdings, Food Production

Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset: Ireosa Ltd t/a Robert Honeybun & Son

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CONVICTED (2022) | dairy farmer Robert Mark Honeybun / Ireosa Ltd, of Higher Kingstone, Russell Farm, Winterbourne Abbas, Dorchester DT2 9EU – for cruelty to cows and calves.

Ireosa Ltd, which is operated by Robert Mark Honeybun, born November 1960, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a cow and a calf by failing to care for them, along with a series of other offences relating to conditions on their farm.

The court heard how officers visited the farm in April 2021, together with a vet from the Animal and Plant Health Agency. They found three calves that were clearly sick and emaciated; dirty pens, water troughs and feeding equipment, and a cow with a badly injured front leg that had not received veterinary treatment for three months.

They also had to free a calf trapped in wire that had been left in a field with livestock. Various cattle bones and a skull were found dotted around the farm as well as dead calves in pens with live cattle.

The court was told that officers from Dorset Council’s trading standards service had been visiting the farm for over six years with the aim of ensuring that welfare standards were improved.

As a result of their visit in April 2021, the farm had lost its Red Tractor accreditation for a minimum period of two years.

Representatives of the farm appeared at Poole Magistrates Court for sentencing on 20 September 2022, having pleaded guilty to seven offences at an earlier hearing.

It was reported in November 2021 that Robert Mark Honeyman faced cruelty charges as an individual in relation to the cattle, but it’s not clear if the case against him personally is to proceed separately.

The offences were against animal health and welfare, animal by-products and feed legislation, and were brought to court following an investigation by Dorset Council Trading Standards.

They were fined a total of £52,650 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £6,186.

ITV News

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

Dogs, ear cropping and tail docking, Pet Profiteering, puppy farmers / traffickers, kennels, backyard breeders

Machen, Caerphilly: Jedd Wiegold

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CONVICTED (2022) | unlicensed dog breeder Jedd Wiegold, born 27 February 1989, of 46 Keble Court, Machen, Caerphilly CF83 8TB – mutilated the ears of American bulldog puppies

Jedd Wiegold and one of the mutilated puppies.
Jedd Wiegold and one of the mutilated puppies.

Wiegold was prosecuted following an investigation by Caerphilly Council’s Trading Standards team after information regarding the breeding of dogs and ear cropping was received from Welsh police.

Evidence in the case showed that Wiegold had been breeding and selling American Bully puppies for at least two years under the name Wild Tri Bullys.

This puppy would later have her ears cropped by Wiegold.
This puppy would later have her ears cropped by Wiegold.

Between March 2019 and March 2020, Wiegold owned, bred and advertised in excess of three breeding bitches and litters.

The breeding of his dogs and puppies for sale were advertised on Facebook and Instagram.

The full extent of Wiegold’s earnings was not known but he advertised puppies for between £4,000 and £6,500 each and in some cases up to £10,000.

Wiegold with partner Clare Barry.
Wiegold with partner Clare Barry.

Evidence obtained from his mobile phone also showed that Wiegold was involved in arranging/causing mutilation by ear cropping of puppies. The evidence suggested the procedure itself was carried out by an unknown third party.

Cllr Nigel George, Caerphilly Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Protection commented, “Demand for fashionable breeds of puppies is always high, so it can be a very lucrative business. We are pleased with the outcome of the sentencing and we hope that it will serve as a warning to other criminals who are looking to take advantage of animals for financial profit.

“If anyone has any information on potential unlicensed breeders please contact our Trading Standards or Licensing teams.”

Dodgy breeder Wigold is disqualified from owning, keeping or transporting dogs until 2032.
Dodgy breeder Wigold is disqualified from owning, keeping or transporting dogs until 2032.

Wiegold received a custodial sentence at Newport Magistrates Court on 11 January 2022 for unlicensed dog breeding and a number of mutilation offences.

Sentencing: five months in jail for each of five separate offences, all to be served concurrently. Wiegold is already serving a 10-year prison term for drug trafficking. Disqualified from owning, keeping and transporting dogs for 10 years but can apply to have restrictions lifted after seven years.

Swansea Bay News