County Durham couple sentenced over animal mistreatment claims

WARNING: This article contains images which some may find distressing

A couple from Peterlee have been disqualified from keeping all animals following a string of animal welfare offences - which included setting a dog on a chicken, riding a small lame pony, beating another dog, and killing and burning the remains of a puppy.

John Cameron Lindop, (DOB: 20/03/2001), of Albion Hill, Hepworth, Doncaster, and Lucy Elizabeth Melrose, (DOB: 20/06/2000), of Hawthorne Road, Ferryhill, County Durham, were sentenced at Durham Crown Court earlier.

The pair were handed a 16-month suspended prison sentence as well as being disqualified from keeping all animals for 15 years.

This follows an RSPCA investigation led by Inspector Clare Wilson spanning two years and multiple animals. The charity was first alerted to the issues in February 2022 when a member of the public contacted the RSPCA after bringing Max, a lurcher they had recently rehomed, into the PDSA Gateshead with injuries to his abdomen, blood in his food and in his urine.

Inspector Clare Wilson said: “Max was very subdued and withdrawn, he was hanging his head and was attached to drips when I first saw him.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 public who brought the dog into the vets had rehomed him from Melrose and Lindop the day before and she had brought the lurcher to the vets as soon as she realised he was injured.

A vet report found Max had suffered blunt force trauma injuries by physical abuse.

The report said: “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 during the investigation the couple had hid other dogs from the RSPCA, including a lurcher called Bambi and a German Shepherd dog called Tally. Melrose later showed these dogs to the RSPCA’s investigating officer. Tally was underweight and her right ear was crooked and inflamed with a severe ear infection.

The court heard how the vet found Tally suffered due to the ear condition which would have caused irritation and pain for at least 10 days, or likely longer. A report stated that the person responsible for Tally had failed to seek veterinary advice for her ear condition and therefore had failed in protecting her from pain and suffering.

During the investigation, the mobile phone of Melrose was seized which contained shocking videos showing more animal welfare offences. This included Bambi, a fawn coloured lurcher, being baited and set on a chicken.

Lindop claimed Melrose was responsible for this but ‘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 series of other videos on her phone showed Melrose riding a Shetland pony called Dinky who was struggling under the weight of carrying the adult and was evidently lame in one leg.

Analysis of these videos 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 pain or does that mean 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 mother ‘Won’t find it now like coz burnt it."

The charred remains of Hades, a 12 week old Welsh Herder puppy, were found close to the railway line in an area of scrubland in Hordon, Peterlee, where there were burnt patches on the ground and fragments of Hades’ bones were discovered by the RSPCA. Lindop claimed in graphic detail that Melrose had killed him whilst Melrose told investigators that Lindop had ‘hung him from a door until he was brain dead.’

Lindop and Melrose were given a 16-month sentence, suspended for two years. Lindop was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and 40 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and Melrose was also given 40 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days.

The pair were also disqualified from keeping all animals for 15 years.

In mitigation, the court heard how the pair had a challenging background and it was felt that rehabilitation is possible, given their young age. Judge Peter Armstrong also mentioned mental health issues and commented that Lindop was now in a secure relationship with a baby on the way.

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 third party and is doing much better now she has recovered from her mistreatment and the dogs were brought into the care of RSPCA Felledge Animal Centre in Chester-le-Street where they have now found happy, loving forever homes.