The couple, who now reside in Peterlee, County Durham, have been disqualified from holding all animals following a string of animal welfare offences investigated by the RSPCA.
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT AND DESCRIPTIONS OF ANIMAL ABUSE
John Lindop, 22, of Albion Hill, Epworth and Lucy Elizabeth Melrose, 23, of Hawthorne Road, Ferryhill, County Durham, have been sentenced at Durham Crown Court the place they have been handed a 16-month suspended jail sentence in addition to being disqualified from holding all animals for 15 years.
It adopted an RSPCA investigation led by Inspector Clare Wilson spanning two years and a number of animals.
The charity was first alerted to the problems in February 2022 when a member of the general public contacted the RSPCA after bringing Max, a lurcher that they had lately rehomed, into the PDSA Gateshead with accidents to his stomach, blood in his meals and in his urine.
Inspector Wilson mentioned: “Max was very subdued and withdrawn, he was hanging his head and was attached to drips when I first saw him.
“I immediately noticed that his muzzle was very swollen as was his right side near his shoulder.
“There was blood visible in the white of his right eye too.
“I was told that he had been weeing blood as well. There was bruising visible on his abdomen and sheath and there were blood marks on his legs and I saw old scars on his rear legs near his feet.
“His nails were not scuffed as we would expect if he had been hit by a car so the vet told me that they thought he had been beaten or kicked.”
The member of the general public who introduced the canine into the vets had rehomed him from Melrose and Lindop the day earlier than and she or he had introduced the lurcher to the vets as quickly as she realised he was injured.
A vet report discovered Max had suffered blunt power trauma accidents by bodily abuse.
The report mentioned: “Max was bleeding from both nostrils which were dripping blood. He had soft tissue swelling around his left eye and bruising on his neck.
“He also had visible bruising and swelling on both sides of his ribs and thighs and heavy bruising on his abdomen. The injuries suffered by Max are consistent with low energy impacts, such as kicking, being hit by fists, or thrown from a few metres down or falling down the stairs.
“Out of each of these scenarios it is my opinion that being kicked is most likely due to the placement of all his injuries.
“In my opinion, he has been hit or kicked to the muzzle and kicked repeatedly – possibly multiple times to his abdomen as bruising and injuries were more extensive there.”
When interviewed, Melrose claimed that Lindop had “kicked him like a football and stamped on his head.”
It was later revealed that throughout the investigation the couple had hid different dogs from the RSPCA, together with a lurcher known as Bambi and a German Shepherd canine known as Tally.
Melrose later confirmed these dogs to the RSPCA’s investigating officer. Tally was underweight and her proper ear was crooked and infected with a extreme ear an infection.
The court docket heard how the vet discovered Tally suffered as a result of ear situation which might have prompted irritation and ache for not less than 10 days, or seemingly longer.
A report acknowledged that the person accountable for Tally had failed to hunt veterinary recommendation for her ear situation and due to this fact had failed in defending her from ache and struggling.
During the investigation, the cell phone of Melrose was seized which contained surprising movies exhibiting extra animal welfare offences. This included Bambi, a fawn colored lurcher, being baited and set on a rooster.
Lindop claimed Melrose was accountable for this however ‘accepted he found it funny at the time but did not know if the chicken had died as he had gone to the chip shop.’
A collection of different movies on her cellphone confirmed Melrose using a Shetland pony known as Dinky who was struggling below the burden of carrying the grownup and was evidently lame in a single leg.
Analysis of those movies by a vet revealed that the ‘female was far too large for both the saddle and the pony and as a result her body overhangs the back and sides of the saddle.
“The female is carrying a whip in her right hand and trying to force the pony to trot forwards.
“The video is 16 seconds and during that time she hits the pony with the stick 10 times.
“The pony tries to avoid having to move forward and only moves forward at a trot once she has been repeatedly smacked with the whip and this is due to the fear and pain of being hit. The mouth of the pony is often open due to her discomfort and the pony is visibly lame on the right forelimb.”
Text messages between Lindop and his mother were also discovered in which Lindop asks ‘If a dogs been hit and nearly dead am I not in the right to finish it off so it’s not in ache or does that imply I killed it?’ With the reply, ‘She killed it you put it out its misery but you would both get done as should have been done by a vet humanely.’
Lindop then replied to his mom ‘Won’t discover it now like coz burnt it.’
The charred stays of Hades, a 12 week old Welsh Herder puppy, have been discovered near the railway line in an space of scrubland in Hordon, Peterlee, the place there have been burnt patches on the bottom and fragments of Hades’ bones have been found by the RSPCA.
Lindop claimed in graphic element that Melrose had killed him while Melrose advised investigators that Lindop had ‘hung him from a door until he was brain dead.’
Lindop and Melrose got a 16-month sentence, suspended for 2 years. Lindop was ordered to hold out 100 hours of unpaid work and 40 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and Melrose was additionally given 40 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.
The pair have been additionally disqualified from holding all animals for 15 years.
In mitigation, the court docket heard how the pair had a difficult background and it was felt that rehabilitation is feasible, given their young age. Judge Peter Armstrong additionally talked about psychological well being points and commented that Lindop was now in a safe relationship with a child on the way in which.
Clare added: “This has been the most challenging case of my career so far and has been extremely distressing to investigate. It is clear that many animals suffered untold pain and mental torture at the hands of these defendants and I am immensely relieved that they will not be permitted to care for animals again for a long time.”
Dinky was owned by a 3rd get together and is doing significantly better now she has recovered from her mistreatment and the dogs have been introduced into the care of RSPCA Felledge Animal Centre in Chester-le-Street the place they’ve now discovered pleased, loving without end houses.
