How Are Animal Abusers Treated In Prison

Fauna abusers 'go abroad with it' and avoid jail, finds written report

Published: 9 August 2017
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Those who commit cruelty against animals "are getting abroad with it" due to the "leniency" of UK courts, according to a written report.

Of xiii,862 people found guilty of animal cruelty in England and Wales from 2005 to 2015, more than 92% avoided prison house, the Centre for Law-breaking Prevention says.

It has called for the maximum sentence for offenders to be increased from six months to 5 years.

The government says it is reviewing the matter.

Of those bedevilled or cautioned for animal cruelty during the period, one,063 received a prison house judgement.

A third (34%) of them instead received a community service order, while a quarter (24%) were punished with a fine.

The study highlights the cases of a man from Lancashire, fined £270 for putting his married woman'southward cat in the tumble dryer, and a pair of brothers - Andrew and Daniel Frankish from Redcar, who were handed suspended sentences afterward filming themselves attacking a bulldog.

In another case, Jennifer Lampe from Shropshire was given a suspended judgement for decapitating two pet snakes and trying to consume their heads.

Image source, RSPCA

These puppies were rescued from a subcontract in Solihull

Puppy farmer Sean Kerr, from Solihull, was jailed for six months for causing unnecessary suffering to more than 30 dogs. Puppies lived on floors coated with faeces and their bedding was soaked with urine

Peter Cuthbertson, director of the Centre for Law-breaking Prevention, said: "Brute lovers will be horrified to learn that animal cruelty is one of the many offences treated extremely leniently by our courts."

He called for "serious, prolific criminals" to be in prison.

The electric current maximum sentence in England and Wales for animal cruelty is six months in prison - but this is the lowest in Europe, the report says.

The recommendation that information technology should be increased to 5 years would bring information technology in line with Northern Ireland.

The RSPCA has echoed this phone call.

Its acting primary executive, Michael Ward, said: "While the RSPCA is seeing unbelievably shocking and distressing cases go before the courts, only a tiny proportion of animal abusers actually receive an firsthand custodial sentence."

The campaigners also called for the creation of a register of animate being cruelty offenders - much similar the sex offenders register - to better monitor echo offenders.

'Full forcefulness of the law'

Responding to questions in the House of Commons on 20 July, the secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove, said: "I am not someone who will automatically achieve for stronger criminal sanctions equally the only route to dealing with a problem.

"Simply there are particular cases of animal cruelty where we may well need to revisit the existing criminal sanctions in order to ensure that the very worst behaviour is dealt with using the full force of the law."

Ranil Jayawardena, MP for Northward Due east Hampshire, who contributed to the report, said: "Deliberately causing hurting, suffering or decease to pets is wholly abhorrent. The problem is that bad people are nonetheless getting away with it."