CONVICTED (2011) | Jake Soden, born 05/08/1991, previously of Northleigh Road, Birmingham B8 2QP (new address tbc) – caught on CCTV choking, whipping and kicking his four dogs

Soden was captured by his neighbour’s CCTV cameras attacking his four dogs. The unidentified neighbour passed the footage onto the RSPCA who prosecuted Soden.

Soden would launch his unprovoked attacks on his terrified dogs late at night and early in the morning when he thought no one was looking.

His neighbour said the two huskies, a brown Staffordshire terrier type dog and a black cross-breed would “freeze at every move” Soden made.

“The dogs were absolutely terrified,” he said. “They would cower to the ground, their tails were tucked between their legs, their ears were down.

“They would never jump around or run about, as they were too scared of him.

I always remember seeing the fear in the eyes of the brown dog during one incident.”

The abuse was first recorded as Soden walked the dogs through the snow on Boxing Day 2010.

The neighbour said: “He would repeatedly kick the dogs for no reason.

“He would whip the lead down onto their backs, pin the heads of the dogs to the floor and stand on the lead to prevent them moving, drag them along the floor by the lead and by holding their heads, and pull the lead up in the air causing the dogs to be standing on their back feet while they were being choked.

“He would also punch the dogs, and in one incident he tied three of the dogs to a lamppost, and dragged a husky behind a wall, pinned it to the ground and started punching it. Before this, he looked around to see if anyone was about.”

The chairman of the magistrates said the “sheer brutality was unbelievable” and they found the number of attacks an aggravating feature of the case.

Soden pleaded guilty to five charges of failing to protect the dogs from pain, injury or fear contrary to section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Sally Case, head of prosecutions at the RSPCA, wrote to the neighbour and said: “This case was only possible because of the video footage obtained by you, and I wish to pass on my gratitude again to you for both obtaining the footage and allowing the RSPCA to use it as vital evidence of mistreatment of these animals.

“We hope that the court’s order will serve to protect animals in the future from wrong-doing of this kind.”

Sentence: 15-month community order. Lifetime ban on keeping animals.

BirminghamLive

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Update June 2013

Soden was back in court after being caught flouting his life ban on keeping animals.

Nick Sutton, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: “Back in 2011 the defendant was seen on CCTV kicking and beating his terrified dogs in unprovoked attacks while walking them late at night and early in the morning when he thought he was not being seen.

“It recently came to the RSPCA’s attention that he had been filmed, again on CCTV, walking a new dog – a Jack Russell.

“It should be said that he is not seen abusing the animals, but it is a blatant breach of the ban. He is seen on CCTV on at least 10 occasions walking the dog up and down the road.”

Soden told the court the dog was owned by his mother.

“She told me to walk the dog and I didn’t understand the conditions of the ban because I’ve got learning difficulties, epilepsy, memory loss and schizophrenia,” he said.

The case was adjourned to allow the Probation Service to compile a report to recommend how Soden should be punished.

Although Soden was warned he could be looking at a prison sentence, the newspapers failed to follow up on the case.