#MostEvil | Gary Marshman, born 30/05/1983, originally from Black Abbey in Bradford but has lived at 27 Tennyson Avenue, Bridlington YO15 2EX for several years – stole an elderly couple’s border collie from outside a supermarket; dog found dead with injuries consistent with being thrown from height
Evil Gary Marshman stole an elderly couple’s dog from outside a supermarket. The dog, Jess (pictured), was found dead two days later having been thrown from a bridge.
In January 2010 Marshman who had a string of previous convictions including possession of a firearm and burglary, stole 12-year-old border collie Jess, beloved pet of retired couple Ron and Enid Bisby, from outside a supermarket in Cleckheaton.
Two days later Jess’s battered body was found in shallow water at the bottom of a viaduct. It appeared that she had been thrown from a bridge. Her collar and lead were found in bushes nearby.
CCTV cameras captured Marshman, who at the time was staying at a local bail hostel, going into the supermarket to buy socks. He was then shown running off with the dog.
Marshman refused to say if he had thrown to dog to her death and was convicted only of theft.
Enid Bisby spoke afterwards of the impact the loss of their pet had had on her and her husband. She said: “Jess was the love of our lives, so much so we had an artist paint a picture of her from a photograph. For this to happen to any dog would be terrible, but for it to happen to an old, trusting dog makes it even more upsetting.”
Jess was the much loved pet of elderly couple Ron and Enid Bisby, who have been left inconsolable by her loss.
Ron Bisby said: ““I have been unable to sleep properly. I feel numb and I miss my dog terribly. My wife feels she has aged 10 years and won’t leave the house. I can’t put a price on Jess. She is priceless to me.”
Sentencing: jailed for 26 weeks for theft. No ban.
#MostEvil | Terence Henry Simpson, born 11 January 1977, with a most recent (2022) known address of Syke Avenue, Tingley, Wakefield WF3 1LU – killed three of his six pet dogs with a hammer because he claimed he couldn’t cope with them any more.
Simpson was jailed for 20 weeks and banned from keeping animals for life after pleading guilty to killing the dogs.
The court heard that Simpson, at the time living in Embleton Road, Methley, Leeds, had been talking about getting rid of the dogs for a couple of weeks.
On 20 September 2009, after some hours spent drinking, he went out to the garden where the dogs were.
He then killed two of the dogs in his shed while a third – a 16-week-old puppy – was killed in the back garden.
RSPCA inspector Dave Holgate said: “These dogs suffered dreadful, brutal deaths which were totally unnecessary.
“The fear and distress they must have suffered doesn’t bear thinking about.
“He selected the dogs he was going to kill and the ones he was going to spare. Afterwards, he took the bodies to a nearby quarry and dumped them there.
“It’s tragic that he felt so unable to cope, and he is remorseful about what he’s done, but whatever was going on in his life it couldn’t possibly justify what happened here.”
The remaining three dogs, two adults and a puppy, were signed over to the RSPCA at the time of the incident and were later re-homed.
CONVICTED (2009) | Dawn Elizabeth Rose, born 25/01/1960, previously of Llangolen, North Wales, and more recently Duncan Street, Brinsworth, Rotherham S60 5DE – allowed 72 horses on her failing stud farm to starve
RSPCA inspectors found desperately emaciated animals on Dawn Rose’s stud farm.
Divorcee Dawn Rose set up a stud farm using a £300,000 pay-out from her ex-partner to fulfil her teenage daughter’s dream of breeding ponies.
But the business was a failure, and when inspectors raided it they found desperately emaciated animals foraging for scraps of food.
Rose pleaded guilty to six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
The mother-of-two wept as RSPCA prosecutor Glen Murphy said the experienced inspection team had been “stunned” by the appalling condition of the animals on her stud farm.
RSPCA inspector Chris Dunbar first visited Rose in March 2008 when she bought her 42-acre farm to start a stud.
Inspector Dunbar said: “We had concerns from the start as she wasn’t feeding the horses. We kept going back — she listened but did nothing.”
One horse, a chestnut mare called Mist, was little more than a ‘skeleton with skin stretched over’, and the vet who treated her was amazed she could still stand up.
Three others were so weak that they died soon afterwards.
Rose, who had moved to the area from Norfolk, told investigators her money had run out and she could not afford to pay for the animals.
Sitting at Mold magistrates court, district judge Andrew Shaw told Ms Rose: “You neglected these horses in an obvious and shameful way.”
Mr Dunbar added: “We were happy with the ban. Our job is to stop cruelty and in this case that’s what we feel we’ve done.”
Sentencing: three-month sentence suspended for 12 months; 100 hours of unpaid community work. Banned from keeping or being involved with horses for 10 years (expired 2019).
As a bankrupt, Rose was only ordered to pay £250 of the RSPCA’s prosecution costs of £128,554.
#MostEvil | Christopher Dennis Collyer, born 12/09/1983, with a last-known address of Aldcliffe Court, Morecambe LA4 4TW – strung up an ‘unwanted’ springer spaniel by his lead and left him to slowly choke to death.
Father of multiple children Collyer was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to Charlie by hanging him from a pipe inside a stone bunker in woods in Keighley, West Yorkshire, leaving him to strangle to death.
Dog killer Christopher Collyer’s victim Charlie
Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting for the RSPCA, told the court the vet who examined Charlie after his death confirmed his death would not have been ‘instantaneous’ and said he was also suffering from a chronic skin condition.
Ian and Mandy Collyer now of West Byland, Halifax. Mandy Collyer allegedly told her son to “get rid” of Charlie.
The court heard that Collyer had been given the dog by his parents, Mandy and Ian Collyer, who were moving house and could not take Charlie with them.
The dog was found hanging in a concrete bunker in Hainsworth Woods, Keighley, by a member of the public on June 10 2008.
A prosecution witness had previously placed Collyer there on June 7.
Mr Monaghan said: “This was appalling cruelty. It was a deliberate and what appears to have been a premeditated act by the defendant.
“What followed was what can only be described as a tissue of lies.
“In court he maintained his story that he had taken the dog for a walk, met a woman and given it to her.
“It is difficult to think of a worse example of animal cruelty given the degree of suffering he must have been subjected to.”
Collyer’s parents, Mandy Collyer and Ian Collyer of West Byland, Illingworth, Halifax HX2 9JU admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the animal by failing to provide veterinary care for Charlie’s skin condition.
Mandy Collyer
Speaking about the case, the RSPCA inspector who found Charlie said it was the worst case he had seen in 15 years.
CONVICTED (2009) | Sebrina Carty, aka Sebrina Buttimer, born 03/12/1987, of Milner Gardens, Richmond Hill, Leeds LS9 8NW – threw a puppy off a three-storey high balcony during an argument with her boyfriend.
Seven-week-old Jack Russell Rocky was thrown from the balcony in his dog carrier after drunken Carty became enraged during the argument. Despite Carty’s wicked intentions, the tiny dog survived the plunge.
The court heard how police were called to domestic disturbance in Carty’s previous address in Appleton Square, Leeds, in October 2008.
They found the smashed pet carrier and Rocky collapsed nearby.
He was taken to a local vet who found he had soft tissue damage and bruises but no broken bones.
Carty pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy and was given a community sentence and a measly two-year ban on keeping animals.
RSPCA inspector Dave Holgate said: ‘This was a sickening case of deliberate and sadistic cruelty.
‘The puppy was only a few weeks old and must have been terrified. It’s a miracle that he wasn’t seriously injured or killed.
‘The sentence passed reflects the serious nature of this incident and serves to show that this kind of vile cruelty cannot and will not be tolerated.’
Rocky made a full recovery and now lives in a new home
Sentencing: 100 hours of unpaid work; £250 costs; two year ban (expired 2011).
#MostEvil | Shaun Andrew Furgusson, born 26/04/1981, as of December 2020 living in Spring Bank, Hull HU3 – stole a dog and tortured her over three days. Mongrel Chrissie died from her horrific injuries. Went on to steal another dog who was never found.
Shaun Furgusson and his victim, Chrissie, as found
Shaun Furgusson launched a motiveless attack on mongrel Chrissie, causing her to suffer brain damage, a punctured lung, five broken ribs and broken teeth. Part of her ear was cut off. Tragically she died shortly after being found by her owner.
During a horrific three-day ordeal Furgusson threw Chrissie at a television then kicked her, smashing five of her ribs. He went on to break one of her legs and bound it with wire. He then cut off one of her ears and attacked her with a hammer, smashing her teeth and shattering her skull.
Furgusson’s kitchen was said to resemble a slaughterhouse with blood everywhere.
2018 photo of Hull dog killer Shaun Furgusson
Furgusson denied having seen the dog when asked by her owner, but later called her to say he had found Chrissie in the garden of a derelict house nearby. Poignantly, the dog was still breathing when her devastated owner discovered her next to a blood-stained flag but it was too late to save her and Chrissie died in her arms.
During his trial Furgusson, who at this point had a prior conviction for robbery, absconded from court but was re-captured. An additional two months was added to his four-month jail sentence for the animal cruelty offence.
In November 2007 Furgusson, one of four brothers, started what was described as a “wild west brawl” at a family wedding to which he wasn’t invited. His mother, Teresa ‘Dolly’ Furgusson – an education worker with East Riding – thought her son should be forgiven for torturing a dog to death, but other family members didn’t see it quite the same way. The brawl resulted in Furgusson and his mother being arrested and the bridesmaid and bride’s brother ending up in hospital.
In June 2010 a family with young children pleaded with Furgusson when the 14-year-old dog they’d had as a puppy disappeared after he burgled their home. The dog, named Bruno, was never found.
For the burglary offence Furgusson was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment at Hull Crown Court.
2021 police mugshot of Furgusson.
In December 2011 sad case Furgusson attacked his ex-partner from whom he had a restraining order. He turned up at the woman’s address armed with a knife and meat cleaver. He held the meat cleaver to his neck and threatened to harm himself. Fortunately he was stopped from doing the world a favour. For this offence he received an 18-month community order.
As at 2017, father-of-one Furgusson was living at a bail hostel in Hull but later moved into a property in Hutt Street, Hull, where neighbours report seeing him in a constant state of drunkenness and singing to himself.
Sentence for killing Chrissie: just four months in prison.
Furgusson’s family home was in St John’s Grove, Hull HU9, and his parents, Steve and Teresa Furgusson, lived there until quite recently. They are now believed to be in Canister Close HU9 3BU.
Furgusson has three brothers – Steven, Stuart and Seb – and a sister named Natasha. He has a teenage daughter.
While believed estranged from his family for several years (although his mother has always reportedly stood by him) recent social media photographs indicate that Furgusson has been welcomed back into the family fold.
Updates
December 2021: the Hull Daily Mail reported that Furgusson (incorrectly referred to as ‘Fergusson’ in the article) was jailed for three-and-a-half years after allowing a Liverpool county lines drug-dealing gang to use his home as a base for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
The court heard that Furgusson, who started injecting amphetamine at the age of just 14, was spending £100 a day on drugs.
Furgusson, now with 58 previous convictions to his name, admitted being concerned in supplying heroin and crack cocaine and permitting his premises to be used for supplying crack cocaine.
He said that a group of Liverpool men moved into his home and told him that they would “feed him” drugs. He did not gain anything financially.
CONVICTED (2005) | Karen Fox, born 31/05/1964, and as at November 2019 of 24 Haslam Grove, Shipley BD18 1PQ – tortured a six-week-old puppy before strangling him
Karen Fox has a history of sadistic animal abuse
Bradford magistrates heard Karen Fox had also committed “evil” and “sickening” acts of cruelty against other animals in the past. They told Fox it was their duty to jail her.
Fox had admitted strangling to death the six-week-old Jack Russell puppy the day after she had bought him as a birthday present for her young daughter.
She wept uncontrollably as she was imprisoned for 60 days and was led away in hysterics.
The court was told Fox, who pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty, suffered from depression. Magistrates were urged by her solicitor not to jail her.
However, bench chairman Granville Dobson, passing sentence after reading a pre-sentence report, said: “You have harmed animals in the past in the most appalling fashion. The reports we have just read are beyond belief. The acts of evil described in them are sickening.
“This bench would not be filling its duty if it did not treat these offences extremely seriously.”
The court was told how Fox had killed the puppy the day after she had bought him for her daughter’s birthday. Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Fox had bought the dog for £150 but attacked him when she could not get to sleep because of his crying.
It was alleged that sadistic Fox tortured the puppy before finally killing him by strangulation.
The court heard how the puppy’s body was found wrapped in a blood-stained towel by a neighbour who tried to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
The RSPCA was called and Mr Monaghan said that when questioned Fox fully admitted what she had done.
Fox, then of Sutton Avenue, Swain House, Bradford, told the RSPCA: “It was whining and yelping. I picked it up and strangled it. I stopped when it had gone limp.”
Arshad Mahmood, mitigating, had urged the magistrates to impose a community penalty.
He said Fox, who had no previous convictions, suffered from a mental health condition known as emotional unstable personality disorder which makes her feel down all the time.
He said she had suffered from the condition since she was 15 and had twice tried to take her own life when she was aged 17.
Mr Mahmood told the magistrates that Fox was devastated by her actions but had been feeling extremely unwell at the time of the offence in August 2004 and has since been receiving treatment at Lynfield Mount Hospital in Bradford.
The court heard that Fox had been receiving hate mail since the court case began and that her 12-year-old daughter had been bullied at school as a result of the incident.
An RSPCA spokesman said: “This sentence is a significant indication that the court took this offence extremely seriously.
“It was a tragic and horrible incident but also an act of cruelty. This is not acceptable and clearly the court took that view as well.
“This type of cruelty to animals is very rare.
“The majority of cases dealt with by the RSPCA are people who have failed to do something for their animal.
“Instances of actual physical attacks on animals are in a minority although they are on the increase which is a worrying concern.”
Sentencing: jailed for 60 days. Banned from having custody of any animal for the rest of her life.
