CONVICTED (2024) | Rachel Louise Smith, born c. 1992, from Skirpenbeck, near Stamford Bridge, York YO41 – strangled her pet cat to death.
Smith, who is said to be mentally ill, is banned from having any role in owning or caring for animals for the rest of her life after pleading guilty to killing a cat named Chico.
RSPCA prosecutor Phil Brown told the court Smith had strangled the pet because he had urinated on her clothes.
Mr Brown said a mental health team had contacted Humberside Police after Smith told them she had shot the cat.
She later told an RSPCA inspector she had strangled him having “lost her temper” when he damaged her clothes.
Mr Brown said the RSPCA was aware of Smith’s mental illness and had prosecuted her so that she could be banned from having control of animals in future.
Smith’s solicitor Kevin Blount argued that Smith’s mental illness meant she had not dealt with the incident in the way someone who was not mentally ill would have dealt with it.
Mr Blount said she had been given the cat by someone who thought having a pet would help her with her difficulties.
“She soon realised that was not the case,” he said.
Mr Blount said the defendant had “complex psychiatric needs” and that she had a “very complex and tragic history”.
She had tried to arrange for the cat to be rehomed without success.
Smith was already working with health professionals to deal with her mental illness and the probation service could not help her, the court heard.
Her illness meant it was not possible for her to do unpaid work or be put under a curfew.
That left the judge with the choice of giving her a conditional discharge or a prison sentence, said Mr Blount.
District judge Adrian Lower said prison was not appropriate for Smith although he would normally consider jailing someone for killing a cat.
“There is no excuse for killing Chico,” he told Smith. “But I have to take into account your poor mental health as it was then and is now.”
Sentencing | three-year conditional discharge; £200 prosecution costs and £26 statutory surcharge. Banned from keeping, owning or caring for any animal for life but can ask for the ban to be reviewed after 10 years.
CONVICTED (2024) | horse breeder Jane Elizabeth Moore, born 3 December, of Jemoon Stud, Deira, The Common, Market Weighton YO43 4LE – kept 36 neglected horses in squalor with ten of them having to be put down.
The RSPCA and World Horse Welfare found 36 horses living in squalor at Jane Moore’s East Yorkshire stud farm.
One of the horses was in such poor condition he had to be put down immediately, three more were euthanised two days later and six other horses were euthanised in the following months.
When inspectors visited Moore’s yard in early 2023, they found a number of animals in distress, including a stallion called Puzzle Pic n Mix, who had dental issues and a diseased penis.
A male Cleveland Bay called Earlswood Traveller had lameness and a lice infestation, and another stallion called Spadge was also lame, had a sinus cyst and ‘obvious ill health’.
A bay mare, Henby, had ulcerated cheeks, and five other horses called Hedi, Whizz, Robbie and Nellie were in poor condition and also lame. Bay mare Cassie was a victim of ‘poor husbandry’, piebald mare Pollyanna was infested with mites, and Basil, JDJ5 and Sammy also had inadequate dental care. Bay gelding Archie and a chestnut mare had not been given pain relief of proper hoof care, and a piebald mare called Lucky had an infected sheath that had not been treated.
RSPCA Inspector Natalie Hill told the court: “All the horses were living in extremely dirty stables with little food or water. They all had overgrown hooves and they were in poor body condition.
“Within one stable block there was a very strong smell of urine and the horses’ rugs were found to be very dirty and extremely heavy. It appeared to me that all the horse stables had not been cleaned in some time and on some horses their feet were very long and overgrown.”
The horses did not have adequate nutrition, a suitable environment, farrier attention, veterinary and dental treatment, and preventative treatment for lice and mites.
A vet’s expert report to the court said Moore had failed to ensure a suitable environment for her equines, failed to provide adequate veterinary care and failed to ensure they were kept in a healthy body condition.
Of the 36 horses, 22 were underweight and most were suffering from dental issues and overgrown hooves, while three had lice and mite infections.
Moore pleaded guilty to 10 offences of causing unnecessary suffering to 17 horses and one charge of failing to meet the needs of 36 equines.
The court heard defence mitigation that Moore was “no longer up to the task of looking after such a large number of horses”.
It was claimed she had been isolated and lonely after a marriage break-up and the loss of her parents and her pride had prevented her from asking for help.
The court heard that at the time of the charity’s visit, she was in hospital and relying on friends to care for the horses. She also had had a lack of finances which prevented her dealing with some of the health problems.
The chairman of the magistrates told Moore: “This was a case where these animals were so obviously struggling that intervention was obvious and necessary. The fact that it was not forthcoming was down in large part to your own pride and your refusal to ask for help.”
Inspector Hill said after the hearing: “These horses were found in dreadful conditions with multiple health problems. They were being kept confined to their stables for long periods and it appeared they were rarely exercised.
“One sadly had to be put to sleep on the day we first visited, although that course of action had been recommended by a vet several months before. There were several other horses in very poor health too, including one whose teeth had grown through his cheek and was in a lot of pain and discomfort.
“In all 10 of the 36 horses have had to be put to sleep and the others have got long-term health issues from being neglected for such a long time, such as ligament and joint problems, that only a small number will be able to be rehomed.”
Sentencing | 20-week prison sentence, suspended for two years; £13,099.27 in court costs and £154 statutory surcharge. Disqualified from keeping equines indefinitely.
Jemoon Stud’s Facebook page, last updated in June 2023, advertises that the farm ‘breeds quality show/competition horses including pure/part bred Cleveland Bays. Currently standing five stallions, producing for the future.”
Moore was listed as one of around 30 registered breeders of pure Cleveland Bays by the Cleveland Bay Society in 2022 – one of whom was the late Queen Elizabeth.
CONVICTED (2023) | racehorse trainer Gary Sanderson, born 9 July 1963, of Lilling Hall Farm, Moor Lane, Sheriff Hutton, York YO60 6RL – for cruelty and neglect relating to several mares and a gelding.
York Magistrates’ Court heard that Sanderson, who trades under the name Lilling Hall Racing or Lilling Hall Farm, looked after horses “that made money” for him but not those that did not.
During his lengthy trial, witnesses described how the RSPCA found horses in his care with lice and worm infestations, poor dental care, overgrown hooves, poor bodily condition and living without proper feed.
They also found that he had failed to get veterinary treatment for a wounded horse and one in poor physical condition, didn’t protect horses from pain and suffering and that one horse had been able to get into dilapidated farm buildings where she could be harmed.
Defence barrister Christopher Moran said the trainer and breeder “lives and breathes” horses and had done so all his life.
But his training licence was suspended when he was charged with the offences and he will not get it back, said the defence barrister.
Sanderson denied nine charges of cruelty or neglect of horses, all relating to mares he was using for breeding, and a gelding, but was convicted after a lengthy trial.
He intends to appeal the convictions.
District judge Adrian Lower told him: “You were well able to look after the horses in the yard because they made money for you. They were racehorses.”
He added: “You were not looking after the mares and gelding. There was no money in them. They were simply to be bred from so you could buy race horses.”
The judge said he suspected the British horse licensing authority would decide as a result of the convictions that Sanderson was “not a fit and proper person” to hold a training licence.
He ordered Sanderson to hand over the horses that he had been cruel towards or had neglected.
He decided against disqualifying him from looking after horses after Mr Moran said the RSPCA had inspected Sanderson’s stables twice since he was charged and had found nothing to concern them about the horses there.
The judge initially ordered Sanderson to pay the RSPCA’s prosecution costs of £94,482, but Mr Moran said he didn’t have the power to do so when a defendant didn’t have any money.
Both Sanderson and his wife, Lynne Sanderson, gave evidence that he doesn’t own any property and that he lives off his wife’s income from hairdressing and caravan businesses.
They said though Sanderson continues to breed horses, that business is not turning a profit because of the time delay between conception and the growth of a foal to a stage where it can be sold.
The judge said the RSPCA could sue Sanderson for the money through the civil courts.
Mr Moran said the lengthy court case had already been a punishment to Sanderson because it had affected his marriage and his mental health. The first court appearance was in 2019 and subsequent hearings were delayed by the courts’ closing during the pandemic and listing problems when they reopened.
Sentencing | deprivation order on the horses he abused. Ordered to pay the RSPCA’s costs (but claims financial hardship). Not banned from keeping horses or any other animal.
CONVICTED (2023)| professional dog walker Pamela Fisher, born c. 1963, of Chaloners Road, Dringhouses, York YO24 2TN – caused the death of a dog by leaving him in her van during a heatwave.
Fisher pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering in relation to a cocker spaniel called Teddy, who died of heatstroke while in her care.
RSPCA prosecutor Phil Brown told the court that Fisher was “grossly negligent in her duty of care to Teddy. As a result of her negligence, unfortunately, the dog suffered and subsequently died.
“We cannot say how much the suffering was. It was extreme, though for a short time we hope.”
According to the Met Office, temperatures in the shade reached 33C in York that day.
Mr Brown said Teddy’s owner arranged for Fisher to collect the dog, walk him and return him home while she was at work on August 11, 2022.
But when she arrived home at 6.10pm, there was no sign of the dog.
She rang Fisher who confirmed she had taken Teddy with other dogs for a walk.
But when she took the other dogs back to their owners, “she had simply forgotten to take Teddy back. Teddy was left inside her van. She carried on with the rest of her day,” said Mr Brown. That had included going to her hairdressers.
By the time she realised her mistake it was too late.
The dog’s owner called in the RSPCA.
Interviewed by an RSPCA inspector, Fisher said she had a standard order for delivering the four dogs she walked that day to their homes. On that day, for some reason, the order was changed, which led to her forgetting to deliver Teddy.
She had run her dog walking business for seven and a half years but had now closed it for good.
A vet statement said: “It is my opinion that the likely cause of Teddy’s death was heat stroke. Dogs can develop heat stroke and die within an hour in hot weather. It is unknown how long and how quickly Teddy died. It is likely that Teddy will have suffered.”
Fisher’s lawyer handed in testimonials and other documents which led the judge to declare Fisher had an “impeccable” character. She had no previous convictions.
Mr Brown said the RSPCA had no concerns about the way Fisher looked after her own two dogs.
Speaking after the sentencing, RSPCA Inspector Claire Mitchell said: “Fisher had confirmed that she’d forgotten to drop Teddy off back at his owner’s and he’d been in the back of the van for five hours. The temperature that day was 30c.
“We hope this tragic case reminds people that the risk to the lives of animals is so high. Our message is simple: never leave a dog in a hot car – ‘not long’ is too long, and if you see a dog in a hot car, call 999 immediately.”
Sentencing | 12-month community order with 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement; £400 prosecution costs and £114 victim surcharge. Banned from transporting or dealing with dogs commercially for three years (expires March 2026).
CONVICTED (2023) | George Turner, born c. 1986, of Village Farm, Broad Balk Lane, Norton-le-Clay, York YO61 2RS – left a filly to become so emaciated she could barely stand
George Turner’s unnamed horse was euthanised after she became too unwell to be saved
George Turner denied causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of the unnamed thoroughbred-type filly, but was found guilty of both offences after a two-day trial.
The RSPCA were alerted to the plight of the starving horse by a concerned member of the public. Inspector Alice Cooper subsequently attended the scene accompanied by an equine veterinary surgeon, two police officers and a representative from the charity World Horse Welfare.
When Turner arrived, he confirmed that the filly and four other thoroughbred-type horses belonged to him.
Giving evidence in court, Inspector Cooper said: “The horse was very thin. Her spine was prominent and protruded like a ridge along her back, and the bones around her back end looked sharp and pointy. Her demeanour seemed very subdued, and she stood with her head bowed. When walking she appeared slow and quite weak.”
The young horse also had extensive rain-scald across her back and rump and had not been provided with any shelter to escape adverse weather conditions. The vet who examined the horse in Turner’s presence, confirmed the filly was suffering and she was seized by the police.
She was so poorly that she collapsed when transportation arrived and required support to get onto the trailer.
She was initially taken to a specialist equine hospital for treatment before being moved onto a boarding establishment where she had to be supported to stand up. Sadly her condition continued to decline and she was eventually put to sleep on welfare grounds.
A post mortem revealed she had an emaciated body condition, extensive ulceration of the stomach – which may have been predisposed by a lack of adequate food – and a heavy worm burden.
Giving evidence, the vet told the court that clinical examination of the horse “showed an animal that was in extremely poor condition and was very obviously sick and in need of veterinary attention.
She added: “The horse was very dull and weak and it would have been obvious to even a lay person that she was in extremely poor body condition and emaciated. These factors were chronic in nature and a responsible, reasonable and caring horse owner would have recognised that the horse was failing to thrive and was becoming emaciated.
“The forage provided in the field for the horses was not enough to provide them all with their daily nutritional requirements. The filly may have experienced competition for food and as such should have been provided with ad-libitum food, endoparasite control and veterinary care.”
The vet said it was her professional opinion that it would have taken a minimum of six weeks for the filly to become emaciated and that she’d been caused to suffer unnecessarily for at least two weeks.
The court heard that Inspector Cooper made repeated attempts to contact Turner to interview him about the filly, but was told he was a “busy man”. In January 2021 a solicitor contacted the RSPCA to arrange an interview for Turner, but it never went ahead and Turner represented himself in court.
During the trial Turner stated he “had not done anything wrong” and that he did not want to be disqualified from keeping equines as “he had knowledge of horses and had been successful in raising them in the past”.
In mitigation he said he had financial difficulties, but did not produce any details to corroborate his circumstances.
After the case, RSPCA Chief Inspector Justin Le Masurier said: “This was a very distressing case and we would like to thank World Horse Welfare and other partner agencies for their assistance, as well as the members of the public who reported their concerns about this young horse to us.
“A responsible horse owner would have intervened and provided their animal with veterinary attention long before they had got into such an appalling state, but this didn’t happen and sadly this filly suffered unnecessarily for a long time as a result of Mr Turner’s neglect.”
Sentencing | 18-week suspended prison sentence; costs of £1928 plus victim surcharge. Deprivation order for the four other horses. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years.
CONVICTED (2022) | Paul Crampton, born c. 1989, of Pateley Place, Holgate, York YO26 4LS – for cat cruelty.
Crampton was banned from keeping animals for life after he pleaded guilty to animal neglect to a cat by failure to provide veterinary treatment for an ulcerated and infected leg.
Sentencing | community order with 15 days of rehabilitative activities; total of £495 costs and surcharge. Lifetime ban on keeping all animals.
CONVICTED (2022) | Nicholas Brian Oakland, born c. 1992 (since believed deceased), of Cecelia Place, Holgate, York YO24 4BG – caused the death of a specialist support dog after he stole a car with the animal inside.
Doberman Jake was in the boot of the Range Rover Sport when junkie career criminal Nick Oakland took the vehicle on a 124mph police chase.
Eventually Oakland lost control and the car barrel rolled into a field.
Jake then fled the scene. He was tracked down by police but died from neck or spinal injuries a few weeks later.
Oakland pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated taking of a car, animal cruelty, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance, all committed on February 24, 2022.
Oakland was banned from driving and had previously served prison sentences for other dangerous driving which included damaging a Park&Ride bus, driving through a line of cones into a stretch of road closed off for roadworks, speeding at 70mph through Tang Hall at night without lights and ramming a police car.
“When you are in drink or drugs, you are a one-man crime wave,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Oakland. “On this occasion you drove like a lunatic. You could have killed people and you caused terrible suffering to someone’s precious friend and pet, who had to be put down.”
He said Oakland had a “shocking record for driving” but the maximum sentence he could pass was two years and he had to reduce that by a third for Oakland’s guilty plea.
The judge concluded: “It is quite clear that this defendant’s mental health ebbs and flows depending on his imbibing of illicit drugs. His period in custody has done him a power of good.”
Sentencing | jailed for 19 months and given a driving ban.
CONVICTED (2022) | Keavey Gray, born c. 1999, of Bouthwaite Drive, Acomb, York – starved her pet cat.
Gray was banned from keeping animals for two years after she admitted neglecting a cat called Moana by failing to give her adequate food and water. She was also given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £175 prosecution costs and a £22 statutory surcharge.
CONVICTED (2022) | Shaun Simms, born 22 June 1968, of Pond View, Kelfield, York* – subjected a puppy to a series of sustained attacks.
Shaun and Emma Simms. Picture: Facebook
Shaun Simms was fined and given a four-year disqualification order on keeping dogs after being convicted of cruelty to the husky cross puppy, named Rex.
The RSPCA were alerted after a neighbour made a number of audio recordings over a five-week period in which Rex could be heard yelping as he was attacked. Children’s voices could reportedly be heard on some of the recordings.
Simms and wife Emma Simms were prosecuted although the latter’s ‘not guilty’ plea was accepted by the court, this despite her voice reportedly being on some of the recordings.
Rex has mostly recovered from his ordeal in the RSPCA’s care but remains very nervous.
Simms was convicted of neglecting the needs of a crossbred type dog.
The court heard that he was not the owner of the dog concerned when he stood trial.
He denied a charge of failure to ensure that the dog, called Rex, was not protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease.
Magistrates heard evidence about his care of the dog and convicted him of the offence.
Simms also denied a charge of trying to prevent the dog from behaving in a natural way and was acquitted of that charge.
Sentencing: ordered to pay a total of £962. Banned from owning or keeping a dog for just four years (expires February 2026).
Case Outcome in full
Emma Simms:
Alleged Offences: On or before 11/01/2020 at Pond View, Kelfield, York did not take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which you were responsible, namely a crossbred type dog by the name Rex, were met to the extent required by good practice in that you did not ensure the animal’s need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns. Contrary to section 9 and 32(2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
On or before 11/01/2020 at Pond View, Kelfield, York did not take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which you were responsible, namely a crossbred type dog by the name Rex, were met to the extent required by good practice in that you did not ensure the animal’s need to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease. Contrary to section 9 and 32(2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Both alleged offences were dismissed during the hearing on the 07/02/2022.
Shaun Simms:
Alleged Offences: On or before 11/01/2020 at Pond View, Kelfield, York did not take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which you were responsible, namely a crossbred type dog by the name Rex, were met to the extent required by good practice in that you did not ensure the animal’s need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns. Contrary to section 9 and 32(2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
On or before 11/01/2020 at Pond View, Kelfield, York did not take such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which you were responsible, namely a crossbred type dog by the name Rex, were met to the extent required by good practice in that you did not ensure the animal’s need to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease. Contrary to section 9 and 32(2) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
First alleged offence dismissed and found guilty of second alleged offence in relation to ‘ the animal’s need to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease’.
Fine totalling £962.00 imposed and a Section 34 Animal Welfare Act 2006 order was issued to disqualify Mr. Simms in respect of dogs from owning them, keeping them, participating in keeping them and from being party to an arrangement under which the defendant is entitled to control or influence the way in which they are kept for a period of 4 year(s).
No deprivation order was made as Shaun Simms is not the owner of the dog named Rex.
Updates
*August 2022: the Simms are now understood to be living in Sherburn in Elmet, Leeds LS25.
CONVICTED (2021) | pet shop owner Mark James Eaton, born c. 1979, of Woodlea Avenue, York YO26 5JX – failed to get veterinary treatment for a chameleon in his care.
Mark Eaton
Eaton, owner of Acomb Pets, pleaded guilty to an animal welfare offence when he appeared before York Magistrates’ Court.
The court was told how a chameleon called Derek was taken to be boarded by his owner at Eaton’s shop for 11 days.
But when she collected Derek on August 13, 2021, she found her pet had an infected wound oozing pus in his lower back and pelvis. This had led to a deteriorating body condition as Derek was not feeding or drinking. She took Derek for emergency veterinary treatment and the matter was reported to the RSPCA.
After chameleon Derek spent eight days at Acomb Pets, he had pus oozing from a wound, he was unable to eat, he was dehydrated and his skin was dry and paper like.
RSPCA Inspector Alice Wilson was called to investigate and during an interview Eaton said Derek was bitten by a live locust in his feed which caused the injury. In court he admitted a charge of failing to provide veterinary treatment in respect of an infected wound.
An independent veterinary expert told the court: “It is common for ‘live’ food to turn around and start to eat the animal that was meant to eat them, particularly when both are confined to a small area.
“Normal good husbandry measures will prevent this occurrence – namely making sure the prey is of an appropriate size for the predator and not leaving excess insects in the vivarium.
“Should the above not be adhered to and the animal is injured then appropriate veterinary attention should be sought.”
In total Eaton was ordered to pay a £923 fine, £350 costs and a £92 victim surcharge.
Alice said: “I am pleased to say following veterinary treatment Derek is now doing well and is back at home with his grateful owner.”
The court was told that the RSPCA had made a number of recommendations for Eaton to improve the premises.
