Dog fighting gang convicted
Three men from Cambridge have been found guilty of a string of dog fighting offences
Three men from Cambridge have been found guilty of offences relating to dog fighting after a six-day trial at the town’s magistrates court.
Andrew Crowe, 36, and Glenn Brown, 27, were found guilty of 12 offences between them. These included possessing dogs bred for fighting, causing unnecessary suffering to dogs, causing dogs to fight and being present at a dog fight.
The case against them was adjourned until 26 July for sentencing. Brown was cleared of assisting at a dog fight.
Mark Willis, 32, admitted possession of a dog bred for fighting and was found guilty of being present at a dog fight. He was fined £400, ordered to pay costs of £5,000 and banned from keeping any dog for 15 years.
Crowe and Brown were arrested in May last year after officers from the RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit and the police raided the address during a fight. Willis was arrested at his address in Chesterton, Cambridge at a later date.
Two badly injured Pit Bull-type dogs were found at the Brampton Road address during the raid. The vetwho accompanied the RSPCA team at the time of the raid said they would have “suffered considerably”. A third dog at the premises had scarring from old injuries.
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Items removed from the address included a treadmill for improving the dogs’ fitness and stamina and two “breaking sticks” pushed into the dogs mouths to try and separate them during a fight.
Video evidence played to the court showed a makeshift pit in the garage where the dogs had fought. Footage taken in the house highlighted bloodstained walls and blood on the floor.
Inspector Ian Briggs, from the RSPCA’s Special Operations Unit, said: “I am delighted that the three defendants have all been convicted. The worrying thing about this case is that the premises in question were in a residential area and from the outside looked like any other family property.”
The RSPCA is appealing for anyone with information about illegal dogfights to contact the RSPCA’s national helpline (tel: 08705 555999) and leave a message for the special operations unit.
All calls are treated in strict confidence and are charged at the national rate. A reward of up to £1,000 is offered for information that leads to a successful conviction.
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