Of all the fraudulent schemes possible, this is definitely one of the sicker ones. A group of six fraudsters, believed to have made more than £2.5 million from selling more than 5,000 sick and dying puppies from out of their homes in West London, have been jailed by the order of the Isleworth Crown Court.
Daniel Doherty, a licensed and practicing veterinarian, was also handed a suspended 12-month sentence for knowingly faking vaccination cards in order to help the group sell the sick dogs.
The dogs were first imported illegally from Ireland to the defendants’ homes, often being kept in very poor conditions locked up in plastic sheds and garages. The dogs, which included labradoodles, cavapoos and Yorkshire terriers, had a multitude of health problems and were being sold for up to £650 each by misrepresenting the dogs’ health to the buyers. Most of the dogs have since died or been euthanized due to their health condition.
RSPCA inspector Kirsty Withnall first stumbled onto the puppy fraud scheme and then joined forces with the Metropolitan Police to take down the perpetrators.
‘This was a complicated and multi-faceted, high-volume conspiracy whereby the gang has misrepresented commercial, puppy-farmed dogs imported from abroad as family-bred pets to con members of the public out of money,’ Ms. Withnall said.
The 6 person-ring of defendants included Simon O’Donnell, 30 (sentenced to three years in jail for conspiracy to commit fraud, running a pet shop without a license, and three animal welfare offences), Thomas Stokes, 26 (sentenced to three years in jail for conspiracy to commit fraud and one animal welfare offence), Thomas O’Donnell, 29, (sentenced to 100 hours unpaid work and a two-year suspended prison sentence for four fraud offences and three animal welfare offences), Margaret McDonagh, 27 (sentenced to a 18-month community order for fraud), Mary McDonagh, 28 (also sentenced to a community order), and Edward Stokes, 35 (will be sentenced next month).
