Suspended sentences and life ban for causing suffering

Dogs found dumped on playing field in Leigh

18.09.12

A couple from Leigh, Greater Manchester have been given suspended prison sentences and banned from keeping animals for life after admitting causing a rabbit and two dogs to suffer.

The rabbit was found dead in its hutch outside their home. The dogs were dumped on a playing field nearby.

Convicted of animal cruelty

Cassie Alexandra George and husband Paul Hilton of Leigh appeared at Wigan magistrates court on Monday, 10 September for sentencing. George pleaded guilty to nine allegations and Hilton pleaded guilty to four allegations under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 at an earlier hearing.

In addition to the life ban, both defendants were given 18 week prison sentences, suspended for two years and they were each ordered to pay £500 towards costs.

George was also given a four month curfew order under which she has to wear an electronic tag and stay at home between 7pm and 7am.  Hilton was given a six month drug rehabilitation order.

Shocking cases of neglect and abandonment

The court heard that on 22 February a collapsed and emaciated male dark-brindle Staffordshire bull terrier-type dog was found by a member of the public on Marshes playing field. He was collapsed, emaciated and barely alive, and by the time assistance arrived he had died.

 

On 24 February a second dog was found on the same playing fields. The female white-and-black Staffordshire bull terrier-type was collapsed and emaciated but after being rushed to a vet and put on a drip she survived.

 

The rabbit, which was white and brown, was malnourished and suffering from a chronic ear infection. Its body was found in its own filth.

Lucky to survive

The rabbit, which was white and brown, was malnourished and suffering from a chronic ear infection. The male dog, called Chubbs, died as a result of malnutrition.

The female dog, called Bitches but now renamed Brooke, weighed just 7.05 kilos when she came into our care. Her weight is now 14.56 kilos, an increase of 106 per cent.

RSPCA Inspector Vicki McDonald said:

The sentences show that the court clearly viewed this case as seriously as we did. The two animals that died suffered slow, painful deaths and it is only luck that Brooke survived. She was in a shocking state when she was discovered and the fact that she’s survived is testament to all of the people who have cared for her since then.

I’ve never seen an increase in body weight like that, she’s more than doubled her weight, that’s how terrible a condition she was in.

After being signed over to the RSPCA Brooke has now been happily rehomed.

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