3 Jun 2024
Three men and one woman were convicted by a jury in April on an array of offences following five-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Vet Times
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The fighting pit in the garage involved in the case.
Three members of a gang have been jailed for keeping and training dogs for fighting and organising and attending fights across Europe.
Three men and one woman were all convicted by a jury in April of an array of offences following a five-week trial, and returned to Chelmsford Crown Court to be sentenced.
Phillip Harris Ali, 67, of Manford Way, Chigwell, Essex, was sentenced to five years in prison and disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years.
He had been found guilty of 10 offences under the Animal Welfare Act, including four offences of keeping and/or training a dog for use in a fight and two of causing a fight.
Billy Leadley, 38, of Bambers Green, Takeley, Essex, was sentenced to four years in prison and disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years. He had entered a guilty plea to one offence – of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog by failing to provide veterinary treatment for an injury to the dog’s tail – part-way through the trial.
The jury also found him guilty of a further nine offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, including keeping a premises for use in fighting, taking part in a fight by refereeing, and keeping and/or training a dog for use in a dog fight. At the end of the trial, Leadley entered guilty pleas to two additional charges, one of failing to meet the needs of nine dogs being kept outside, and owning a prohibited type of dog.
Amy Louise Leadley, 39, also of Bambers Green, Takeley, Essex, was sentenced to an 18-month community order including 200 hours of unpaid work and a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement. She was also disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years.
She had been found guilty of three offences, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, including keeping a premises for use in fighting. At the end of the trial, she entered a guilty plea to one offence of failing to meet the needs of seven dogs in their house.
Stephen Albert Brown, 56, of Burrow Road, Chigwell, Essex, was found guilty of five offences, including three of keeping and/or training a dog for use in an animal fight, and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison and disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years.
All were ordered to pay a victim surcharge and the RSPCA’s court costs were all awarded from central funds.
RSPCA chief inspector Ian Briggs, who heads up the charity’s Special Operations Unit, led the investigation – called Operation Ghoul – into the gang.
He said: “Dog fighting is a barbaric and horrific bloodsport that has been illegal in this country for almost 190 years, yet there is a secretive and clandestine underworld where it continues to happen today.
“The dogs involved suffer unimaginable pain, suffering, fear and distress. It’s only right that when we have evidence of the people who breed and train dogs for this life, individuals who own and handle dogs in the fighting ring, and those responsible for organising, hosting and refereeing the fights face justice in the courtroom.”
