CONVICTED (2016) | notorious puppy farmers and serial abusers Loretta Bastin (aka Loretta Toye), born 01/04/1951, of Dobe Farm, Meadow Lane, Wickford SS11 7DX and daughter Clare Amanda Toye, born 03/04/1973, of 29 Innes Close, Wickford SS12 9DF
A total of 42 dogs were seized during a joint RSPCA and Essex Police warrant at Dobe Farm Kennels run by mother and daughter Loretta and Clare Toye.
The pair previously featured in a BBC documentary in 2009, which alleged Loretta Bastin, owner of the kennels, was selling sick and dying dogs.
Bastin admitted one count of animal cruelty, one count of running a pet shop while disqualified from doing so, and one count of breeding dogs without a licence.
Toye pleaded guilty to five counts of animal cruelty and one count of trading as a pet shop while unlicensed.
The charges stated mother and daughter caused unnecessary suffering to the animals by failing to take steps to protect them from pain, suffering, injury and disease.
Dogs who were ill were not properly segregated from those who were healthy, the charges state.
The pair were both involved in running the unlicensed pet shop between June 11, 2013, and June 9, 2015.
Police, the RSPCA and Chelmsford Council carried out a warrant at Dobe Farm, on June 9, 2015, after receiving concerns about the welfare of dogs at the kennels.
In court prosecutors called for the pair to be given immediate disqualifications from owning animals, arguing it was a “serious case”.
But magistrates agreed to postpone disqualification proceedings until the sentencing hearing.
Essex Trading Standards first brought a landmark case against Bastin in 2004. It brought her to court using the Sale of Goods Act, which had never been used in a case of its kind before, in an attempt to stop her trading sick animals.
But five years later she was the subject of a BBC Inside Out documentary which revealed they were still selling puppies with false pedigree and vaccination certificates. Footage of undercover researchers buying a pug and King Charles cross puppy led to prosecutions by Chelmsford Council.
The pair were released on bail, with the condition they do not engage in commercial dog trading or breeding of any kind.
Sentencing | Bastin was sentenced on April 13, 2016 and Toye a week later. Unfortunately, newspapers failed to report the details of Bastin’s sentence but Toye was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work. She must pay a £60 victim surcharge and £638 costs. She was disqualified from keeping a pet shop for ten years and also banned from keeping or owning any animals for ten years (expires March 2026).