All language subtitles for Special.Ops.To.Catch.a.Criminal.S01E03.1080p.WEB.h264-CODSWALLOP_[English] (SUBRIP)

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..and the evidence that's put some
of the UK's most dangerous

criminals behind bars.

They look clever.

And they're dangerous.

Britain is a nation of animal
lovers, and dogs are among our firm

favourites as pets.

But not all dogs start their lives
in wonderful, warm family homes.

The dogs were living in a hellhole.

That's about the only way
I could describe it.

It was vast amounts of dogs
being kept in a house.

It was just an awful, awful sight.

Many dogs are bred or stolen
by criminal gangs who care nothing

for the animal's health
and well-being.

At the end of the day, this is
a business and vast sums of money

are made breeding dogs.

And it's big business.

It's estimated the market
for illegally traded puppies

in the UK can be worth up
to £100 million a year.

Sadly, we've seen that with
the trade in puppies that criminal

gangs can make far more money
from this than trading in other

illicit commodities, such
as drugs and guns.

And the organisation that goes
behind the criminal element

of running a poppy operation
is exactly the same.

OK, we have got two runners now.

They are going to make off
in a vehicle, actually.

My name's Ian Muttitt.

I'm the chief inspector for the
RSPCA Special Operations Unit

covering the North of England.

The Special Operations Unit remit
is to deal with organised animal

cruelty, and that covers a number
of different areas of investigations

and cruelty. In particular
its animal fighting.

So dog fighting and cock fighting,
wildlife persecution and badger

baiting, using dogs.

And then more significantly,
over the last few years,

the organised puppy trade,
both commercial importation

and the commercial sales
around the country.

And at any one time we'll have six
or seven investigations

going on nationally.

And as a small team spread
across the country,

that is quite time consuming.

It's December 2020, Covid is rampant
across the UK and with lockdown

in full force, there is a surge
of demand for puppies.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Ian Muttitt
receives a disturbing phone call.

So this investigation was initiated
through contact from a very astute

veterinary practice member,
who identified that an individual

using different aliases and
different names, but was the same

person, was bringing in different
litters of puppies to be vaccinated.

That aroused suspicions
and they contacted us

with their concerns.

For the RSPCA,

a tip off like this can lead
to criminal proceedings,

so they need to investigate
the claims thoroughly.

So although we're not police
officers and we have no powers

in law, our investigators are highly
trained and extremely diligent

in considering all the material
and investigating

these type of offences.

We work to a high standard
to be able to present that evidence

in a format that can be considered
by the magistrates and Crown courts,

and that work is hugely time
consuming and often quite emotive.

First steps involve working
with the vet who'd raised the alarm

to track down the new owners.

The vet practice identified a number
of phone numbers and contacts.

Once we had that information, our
investigator Kirsty was able

to identify the purchasers
and identify then the individuals

that had sold those dogs, the phone
numbers and the email addresses

that were used and the locations
that they visited

to make those purchases.

A key element for the RSPCA
investigators are the puppy's

microchips, which contain
a lot of useful data.

Microchips are a legal requirement.

Often we see people not maintaining
the details on microchips,

and in any investigation where
there's a theft element or dogs

have been stolen, clearly
maintaining that microchip

up to date is vital.

So they provide a really great
opportunity for investigation

and for following evidential chains
to follow up exactly where dogs

have come from, particularly
when it comes to import or sale

from one place to another.

And then that allowed us to follow
on and do further checks

with partner agencies to draw
in the wider links.

Digging deep into the digital dog
data, it very soon becomes clear

they've only just scratched
the surface.

Whoever is responsible isn't
just operating in the UK,

but internationally with other
criminals across Europe.

And then we also identified
that a number of the individuals

had come through the port at Dover.

And our colleagues at the APHA,
the Animal Plant Health Authority,

had stopped two of the individuals
bringing in puppies from abroad.

My name is Aled Edwards.

I work for the APHA, the Animal
and Plant Health Agency.

My role is the head of field
delivery for England.

So there's work done at the ports
and points of entry

into the country.

We work through intelligence,
all focussed on animal or plant

health or animal welfare.

Animal health and animal welfare
is so important to the country

really in terms of the diversity
of the country, the economy.

And so I just love what we do
and the purpose of our job.

So illegal puppy importation
is significant because there's

an opportunity to make money.

There's a huge demand for animals.

And if you think back to 2020
and the pandemic, pet ownership shot

up, prices of animals shot
up and supply

couldn't meet the demand.

So we saw a surge in animals
being imported and the animals

were cheaper to buy in Europe
and therefore people bringing

in and getting higher profits.

So in this particular case,
it was Border Force that had stopped

a vehicle and found five
puppies in the back of it.

They were not being transported
in the greatest conditions.

They were dirty and a fair
bit of smell in the cage

they were transported in,
and the animals looked smaller

than we would expect them to.

Two of those animals were taken
to the vets

because their temperatures
were raised, and there was concerns

around their health and their
welfare.

By February 2021, a pattern
is emerging.

It looks like a serious
criminal enterprise requiring

a major investigation.

And so the RSPCA launch
Operation Earth.

Following up on their initial
enquiries using mobile phone numbers

and email addresses,

the team began a search for puppy
sales advertised on the internet.

It was identified that the adverts
were taking place on Free Ads,

Preloved, Pets for Homes, Gumtree,

and there was in total 47 phone

numbers used across those adverts
and 39 email addresses, which gives

you an idea of the scale
of the puppy dealing operation.

So from the adverts
and the information and intelligence

that we were receiving,
there was a number of family members

that were identified as part
of this network.

And at that stage, our investigator
Kirsty approached Gwent Police

in order to try and obtain search
warrants to further investigate.

But before they can go to the courts
to apply, the police and RSPCA

need to build a picture
of their main suspects.

So identification of the individuals
involved in this puppy dealing gang

was really difficult.

All of the individuals involved

had the same surname.

Often family members were
being used.

Family member's email addresses,
family member's phone numbers,

all of those related back
to the same 11 people.

Alongside sharing the same surname,

many of the 11 suspects share
the same first names as well.

Seeing these mass use of names
and addresses in order to confuse

enforcement agencies to try and
reduce the risk of it identifying

any one individual person.

It's not uncommon.

So trying to establish exactly
who was who was really difficult.

The main investigating officer,
Kirsty Withnall, hits on a genius

idea to work out how everyone
is connected.

It was actually Kirsty.

She knows someone that works
for a probate company, and obviously

they offer up this service
to identify who was who,

how they were related and then also
how the people whose email addresses

or other phone numbers were used
were related

to the primary offenders.

Because understanding those links
when you're talking

about conspiracy is crucial.

The strategy begins to pay off,
and the police secure a number

of search warrants to raid addresses
both in Wales and In Hertfordshire.

But while the teams are planning
their raids, news comes

in that throws the investigation
completely off kilter.

A victim contacted Gwent Police
after an attempted break

in and theft of dogs.

As a result, the police pursued
offenders using, among other things,

a police helicopter which followed
the offenders back to one

of our primary addresses associated
with the puppy selling.

It's April 2021, and Gwent Police
are trailing some potential

dognappers who appear
to be connected to an organised

criminal puppy selling gang.

Police aerial surveillance tracks
the suspects to a traveller

site near Newport.

It soon becomes clear the suspects
have led them to the heart

of the puppy farming operation.

Tactical Flight Officer Jeff Smith
was in the chopper that day.

For this particular case, we were
asked to search for a vehicle

involved in a possible dog theft.

A white and black van,
which would be quite distinctive.

Person's gone to the front door
of a house and overheard on the ring

doorbell then, mentioning
dogs in the back garden.

So there's concern that this van
was involved in the recent crime

of dog thefts within the area
of Newport.

Then we sought all the dogs
that were involved in this case.

So to me it looked like various vans
parked together and then sort

of back gardens. And within that
back garden there were various pens

and lots of dogs within these pens.

I could see
about 20 people within the site.

Police officers drove in and two
people then decided to run off,

and I wasn't sure what their
intention was at the time,

whether it was to warn other
people or to escape.

So the fact people are running away
from marked police vehicles

is a big giveaway that they're
either wanted,

or there's something amiss.

So the priority was to try and get
those people as quickly as possible.

But the police and RSPCA
have a problem.

They've raided the address
three days too early.

IAN:So with any of these types
of investigations with multiple

addresses and multiple offenders,
they take quite a long period

of time to plan and prepare
and to put in place

all of the necessary support
in terms of logistics, vehicles,

vets, staff and all of that was
planned for later on in that week.

However, this incident brought a lot
of that forward.

As a result of this,

we had to request assistance
from our local colleague,

Chief Inspector Spence,
who has had to react really quickly

and put together a team
of officers to attend the location

with the police that day,
which is not an easy task.

Chief Inspector Elaine Spence heads
to the site to begin gathering

evidence for the puppy farm
investigation as part

of Operation Earth, but what
she discovers is so shocking

the immediate need becomes
the welfare of the dogs.

I had very little information other
than the police were in situ

and that there were numerous
dogs on site.

So I arrived at the location
and met with my colleague.

As we were walking through,

we could see numerous dogs in cages.

They were being kept
in makeshift pens.

There was a great deal of faeces
around.

Quite a few of the dogs
didn't have any water

at all available to them.

In fact, I presented water to some
of the dogs and they drank

really quite thirstily,
which would indicate to me

that they hadn't been offered water
for quite a significant number

of hours based on the fact
of how thirstily they drank.

These situations are very upsetting,
but I'm there to do

a professional job.

IAN:So not uncommon in puppy
investigations

we see the dogs kept in poor
conditions.

Fundamentally, they're a commodity
that's for sale and their welfare

is not a priority.

And it was no surprise when,
on arrival at this particular

location, Chief Inspector Spence
and her colleagues found animals

kept in squalid conditions.

The condition of many of the dogs
is worrying, and the task in front

of Elaine and her team, enormous.

There were dogs in cages.

They were in vehicles.

There was dogs roaming around.

We had to consider how we were going
to manage such a large number.

I actually sent a photo of the scene
to one of the dog handlers,

so they could see the gravity
of the situation and the different

areas that would require
being searched.

Elaine calls on colleagues to help
get the dogs locked, scanned

and transported to a veterinary
surgery for check ups.

Then they need to search
for evidence to identify any offences

under the Animal Welfare Act.

So this is the location
that we came to.

The police were already present
and on the site there was numerous

accommodations and the site actually
stretches much further back.

But the majority of the dogs
were kept to the left hand side

of this location.

So we began a systematic account
of all the dogs at that location.

We took photographs
when they were in situ.

At the same time, we were contacting
other colleagues to come and help us

to transport these dogs
to the veterinary surgeons for them

to examine the health of those dogs.

One dog, a miniature dachshund,
catches Elaine's attention.

As we were going around,
there was one little dachshund

that was being kept in a cage
inside a transit van.

This puppy was particularly subdued.

Just lying down.

Didn't really want to sort
of engage, which was of

a grave concern.

It was really, really flat.

The dog was really flat.

We were fortunate that that dog
could be dealt with very quickly

because it was showing signs
of being very unwell.

So that dog was moved out to get
it to a veterinary surgeon.

Along with the dachshund puppy,
there were other dogs in distress.

So altogether on the site
we removed 21 dogs.

A lot of dogs
to deal with in one go.

There was a couple of large dogs.

There was a Saint Bernard, a couple
of Labradors, but on the whole

they were very small dogs,
which made it slightly easier

to transport them out of there
fairly quickly.

We had been made aware by the police
that there was a potential that some

of the dogs may have been stolen.

So whilst we were going around,
we would check with microchip

scanners to see if there was
microchip details on the dog.

Then the police would subsequently
be able to look for those details

and match it up to any dogs
that they believed had been stolen.

It was a long night.

With the warrant executed there
and then, two arrests are made.

The site is searched and evidence
seized.

We have to be very thorough
in the logging of all the animals

on site, because that is evidence
that's going to be produced

to a court.

As soon as the transportation
arrived,

we were having these dogs loaded up,
then moved off and all the paperwork

transporting with them.

The special operations team
of the RSPCA then took

over as it was part of a larger
investigation.

Over the next ten days, RSPCA
inspector Kirsty Withnall explores

the evidence discovered, which helps
her make links to other suspects

in the gang.

Mobile phones were seized, paperwork
was seized which implicated suspects

that we were already aware
of within the puppy dealing

operation, and whilst there was
other addresses and locations

identified, it was clear
that the link was this primary

address and that many of
the occupants of these other

addresses also resided
at the primary address.

It was then time for phase
two of Operation Earth.

So the warrants at various other
addresses in the local area

where sales had taken place
was then planned and executed.

That brought in the remaining
suspects and identified them

through mobile phones, through
paperwork, rental agreements

and the local authority were hugely
useful in terms of identifying

who those individuals were.

And then that material was all fed
back into the investigation

and cross-referenced
with what we already knew.

But there was an issue
because they raided the puppy farm

site only a few days before.

Sadly, the interaction earlier
that week with the police

and ourselves, this criminal gang
had clearly been tipped

off that we may be aware
of their activities.

So when the warrants were executed
at the other remaining addresses,

it was clear that some of them
had been cleared out.

The RSPCA has raided various
addresses connected to an organised

criminal gang of illegal dog traders.

The special ops investigators
process everything they have seized.

The scale of the enterprise is huge.

So in terms of organisation,
this particular network

was all linked as family.

But as we went through the
investigation and started

to analyse mobile phones,
it became clear

that it was highly coordinated.

All of the members were involved
in some way. The import of puppies,

the transport of puppies,
the provision of paperwork, taking

to vets using different aliases,

the placing of adverts, the
arranging

of sales, that takes a lot
of organisation purely

because of the sums of money
that can be made.

Working with APHA at the Port
of Dover, they were able

to build their case tracing
the activity of other members

of the gang.

So on this particular case, the
RSPCA were looking at the selling

of puppies and identifying some of
those that come through the border

from another country.

They identified the ones that were
being sold on and therefore

they come to APHA to make sure they
comply with the regulations

and if we had any evidence,
and that's when we were able

to provide during the prosecution
statements of what we had found

and the issues that we'd identified.

And on this particular occasion,
APHA had cause to stop individuals

importing puppies under the pet
passport scheme.

Some of those dogs were seized
because they were in such poor

conditions. Others were allowed to
carry on their journey,

and subsequently we established
that those dogs

had then been sold on for a profit,

when in fact they'd been declared
at the port

as being their own pet animals.

Some of the unscrupulous traders
would masquerade as being pet travel

scheme travellers so they can go
underneath the radar.

This particular gang was basically
trying to source puppies

from any location, so it was
a mixture of import, commercial

purchase, breeding, offering
to buy them off people

and then bouncing the payments.

So they took the dog away
and the payment never went

through, and potentially
theft, as well.

So it was any opportunity to sell
any puppy or dog that they could.

11 suspects are identified
and enough evidence secured

to get them charged.

But now the real investigative work
begins to build a watertight case

of fraud and animal welfare offences.

The gang had made well over £300,000
during their reign.

It became apparent that Covid
was playing a huge part in terms

of the value that was placed
on these dogs.

We've got evidence that prices
almost doubled during that period.

There's thousands of pounds
to be made regularly in each pet.

The RSPCA has always encouraged
people to be at a property to see

the mum and the pups inside the home
environment.

Organised crime groups have cottoned
on to this.

IAN:At the time, Covid lockdown
restrictions were slowly being eased

but were still in place,
and that was being very much used

by the offenders to reduce
interaction at addresses, to bring

dogs out onto the street and to meet
people elsewhere from the location.

What that does is take away a lot
of things that a prospective

purchaser may be looking for,
and that was used quite a lot

in this particular case.

The rewards for this criminal gang
were huge, but the cost to some

new owners was heartbreak
and huge veterinary bills.

Sadly, in this investigation, we do
see a huge impact on the victims.

They purchase a dog as an addition
to their family to give

them some positivity.

Instead of being able to enjoy
those early days of owning a puppy,

they're ending up with a dog that's
very ill in the vets, costing them

thousands of pounds.

If you do buy a puppy
from a disreputable source,

you are then setting yourself
up for the future.

That animal may not live long, or
if it does live long, it will need

a lot of veterinary treatments.

It really can be quite traumatic
to take these statements

from individuals that are victims.

It takes two and a half years
to collate all the evidence and get

a court date to bring the gang
to justice.

One of the key elements was mobile
phone interrogation and the reports

that that gave, and what the mobile
phone showed was a clear process

of advertising dogs for sale,
suggesting that dogs were home bred,

were microchipped, were vaccinated,
and then also was the messaging

around arranging the sales,
so inviting people to come

and see the dogs.

The manipulation of the purchasers
by saying that the dog was there,

living with them, a quiet family,
etc, but then also in the same

phones was the arrangement of dogs
to be transported,

commercially imported,

the planning of payments
and the arranging of splitting

of funds between the individuals.
And the financial investigations

then show the clear volumes of money
moving through the various

bank accounts concerned.

The evidence is overwhelming. Nearly
a hundred dogs were sold illegally

by the gang.

This fraud is in excess of several
hundred thousand pounds.

And in terms of individual dog
sales, you're looking at £3,500

per dog in some cases.

Six of the defendants pleaded guilty
to the fraud charges, and all 11

individuals pleaded guilty
to the animal welfare charges

that were brought.

Sentencing ranges from 18 months
to three years inside,

plus rehabilitation and community
orders.

All are banned from keeping dogs.

From an RSPCA inspectors
perspective, one of the best

outcomes is that animals are removed
from these individuals and quite

often they receive fairly
lengthy, if not lifetime bans

on keeping animals.
And that means that those

individuals can't harm any other

animals in the future.

By having strong sentences, we can
send a really powerful message

out that the UK takes animal health
and animal welfare really seriously.

We take hard action to make
sure those standards are maintained.

14 of the dogs found at
the travellers site were rehomed.

Knowing that I've assisted
those animals, they don't

have to endure being kept
in those circumstances anymore

and that they've all been
successfully rehomed.

I'm sure that they're living
a far better life

than what they were living there.

Kirsty, the main investigator,

through tenacious and detailed work,
brought

down this OCG, along with other
similar operations where gangs

have cashed in to the tune
of more than £3 million.

And for Elaine, there was another
reward from this investigation.

Sometimes you think there is
a little bit of fate that makes

something happen,
because the little dachshund

that was very, very poorly.

I doubt that that little dog
would have been alive had we not

arrived three days earlier. That
little puppy spent the best part

of a week being cared
for by veterinary surgeons.

The good news out of all of that,
the puppy did make a recovery

and has since been rehomed.

Out of all the little dogs
that needed help, that one did.

Two years earlier, in January 2022,
the RSPCA received an anonymous

report of puppies having their ears
illegally cropped

at an address in Lancashire.

So in this case, it was a member
of the public that contacted

the RSPCA, which allowed us to take
this action to investigate

cruelty and ear cropping.

Local inspector Will Lamping
is assigned the case.

I'm a RSPCA inspector on the field
investigation team.

I've been doing the job
coming up to nine years now.

The majority of my role
is Investigating potential offences

through going out and gathering
evidence from the field.

Be that visits to vets or executing
warrants, interviewing suspects

and then building case files.

For the RSPCA,

ear cropping is a serious concern.

Between 2015 and 2022,

the RSPCA saw
a 2,493% increase in reports of ear

cropping to the cruelty hotline.

And just to put it into context,
in 2022, we had on average, one

report of ear cropping coming
in every day.

It's a cruel practice and has become
a fashionable trend,

despite being banned in the UK
since 2006.

It's really upsetting seeing
images of puppies

that have had their ears cropped.

It is really cruel, it causes a lot
of suffering and for some

of these puppies, the way
in which it's carried out

is barbaric, done in a really crude
way with kitchen scissors,

for example, without anaesthesia.

This is a completely unnecessary
procedure.

Unfortunately, ear cropping
is still very relevant

in some communities.

We particularly see it in those that
breed bull breeds and want to sell

those puppies as hard dogs.

They are looking
for that intimidating look.

So ear cropping is a procedure
whereby either the ear flap

is changed in shape,

so for example, the ear shape
may be cut and altered and pinned

so that it actually then grows
upright,

or in some cases ear cropping
can actually end up with the entire

earflap being removed, such
that the top of the ear is flush

with the dog's skull.

I personally don't understand
how anyone who has a small puppy

in their hands can take a pair
of scissors to that dog

for purely cosmetic reasons.

And social media is sadly
fuelling the demand for such

amateur surgical mutilation.

So we're seeing these dogs
being glamorised, being celebrated,

and we are unfortunately also seeing
some celebrities and some

influencers that have cropped dogs,
and they do feature them

on their platforms.

So people see these dogs
with cropped ears,

they think it's a normal,
it's a natural look

when that isn't the case.

Following the tip off, disturbing
evidence drops into Will's inbox.

We also received pictures showing
the ear cropping of the puppies,

which was really unpleasant to see.

As you could see the puppy
with its ears still bleeding, lying

in a cage, looking totally
out of it and just in real pain.

The team need to act fast, so reach
out to Lancashire Police

to help secure warrants.

When a call like that initially
comes in, first thing

you're thinking about is the clock
and whether the puppy

is still going to be there,
because at that stage, we don't know

if puppies are being brought
to this location for ear cropping

and then going away again.

So you do ideally want to get
there as quick as possible,

because if there is a puppy
there that's still injured, as soon

after the event as it happens
is when you're most likely

to find it.

In cases of ear cropping, the RSPCA
special ops team pursue

with the full force of the law.

In recent years, they've achieved
convictions against ear croppers

where puppies have changed hands
for between £3,000-5,000.

We know that there are individuals
that will pay quite a lot of money

for dogs with cropped ears,
and unfortunately, where

you have that desire to sort
of supply a particular type of dog,

it often goes hand in hand
with irresponsible

or illegal behaviour.

And sadly, dogs always end
up being exploited

as a result of that.

The offences that we can identify
that have been committed

in this country, we will prosecute
because the amount of pain

that it causes to the puppies
is huge and causes them

from a very early age
to be distrustful of people.

It can have real long term
impacts, so there can be wound

infections, for example.

It can really impact upon the way
in which they behave.

So how they signal to people
about how they're feeling and also

how they signal to other animals.

A month after the anonymous tip
off, in the early hours, the police

and RSPCA raid the address.

Police, police, stay there.

When we executed the warrant,
we didn't find any puppies

at the address and the animals that
we did find all seem to be OK

and had their ears intact.

We did, however, recover two phones
from the suspect that then went

off for interrogation.

So it is concerning when
we have pictures of animal abuse,

when we don't find that puppy,
because the question

is, "Where is that puppy now?
Has it gone elsewhere?

"Is there other puppies that are
also getting their ears cropped?"

Empty handed, attention now turns
to the phones.

The two mobile phones we thought
would be our best bet at finding

evidence of any potential offences.

We already had one picture showing
potentially a cropping, so we knew

it was likely that they were
recording it or taking pictures

and possibly sending that to others.

What they discover astonishes
everyone.

So when I got the phone report
back, I did see evidence

that we were expecting to do
with the cropping of ears

and the mutilation of those puppies.

What I wasn't expecting
was what we found next.

It's November 2022,

eight months since an RSPCA
and Lancashire Police raid

where animal cruelty is suspected

comes up with nothing.

It's frustrating because you build
up this intelligence picture

and then you think we've got a real
opportunity to kind of stop

this behaviour taking place.

But of course, the intelligence
picture isn't always

going to be perfect, so you do have
to take a step back and consider

if this suspect is actually
involved.

In the months since the failed raid,
Will and his team have been busy

trawling the suspect's two
mobile phones.

There was thousands of images
and videos to trawl through.

It took hundreds of man hours.

I was sat in the office
going through these videos

and pictures one by one, trying
to piece them up together.

It is difficult sometimes to view
the kind of content that we found.

What they unearth shows the spread
of this criminal cruelty.

We found pictures of ear cropping,
but also pictures and videos

of large array of wildlife crime.

Everything from foxes to badgers to
deer.

I realised that this was a much
bigger investigation

than I had originally anticipated.

There was all sorts of contacts
and people involved in the planning

and taking part in the kind
of wildlife persecution

that we were seeing.

So that all gets documented and
passed to our intel team as well,

to help them build pictures
about what's going on.

So it's really important that we do
have inspectors like Will Lamping

that are investigating what are
really horrendous crimes

for these individual animals,
tackling the cruelty

that is associated with this illegal
and unscrupulous behaviour.

What we have seen is, unfortunately,
a lot of fuelling

of this on social media.

We were able to focus in on two
specific videos.

The first of those videos showed
a fox in a location that we believe

was a garage, being set
upon by two dogs.

What was really distressing
about that one is that it happened

in someone's private garage.

Which means that they will have gone
out, caught the fox, taken the fox

back to this garage, and then let it
go for the dogs to attack it there.

I don't know how long that fox
was in that cage for, but it's hard

to imagine how that fox felt
being trapped in that cage,

waiting for people to come with the
dogs to attack him.

That video, it shows the sick
enjoyment that these people

were getting from it.

Watching this kind of material
does have an impact.

It's really unpleasant to go
through those videos and pictures

of animals being abused, especially
on the scale that we found.

It's something that you never get
used to, but ultimately, I put

myself into a mindset that's
about looking for evidence,

looking for connections, trying to
find the facts that will lead

to potential offences.

So dates, locations, the same
dogs being used.

If you focus on the animals
themselves,

it is just heart breaking to watch.

The cruelty to the fox is
very clear, but the RSPCA is also

concerned for the wellbeing
of the dogs.

DOGS WHINE

The dogs are whining.

They themselves are also being
attacked back by the fox that's

effectively fighting for its life
and ultimately are likely to end

up with injuries themselves.

Armed with the videos and other
digital data, the special ops team

has enough evidence to get
a second warrant.

This time we found a lot
more evidence.

There was two lurcher type dogs,
the first of which had a lot of cuts

to its muzzle and legs,
which is quite distinctive

of an animal that has been used
in wildlife persecution,

particularly when they are going
after animals such as foxes.

The fox will often bite
on the front legs and the muzzle.

We also found a second lurcher
that was totally lame on one

of its legs. It later turned out
that that animal had a fracture

that was not being treated.

Along with those two dogs, we also
found three bull breed type dogs

that had had their ears cropped.

One of these still
had the stitches in.

The suspect is arrested on sight

during the raid, but denies

any responsibility and refuses
to allow the bull breeds to be signed

into the RSPCA's care.

These dogs are quite valuable.

They quite often want to advertise
these as potential breeding dogs,

or generate more puppies
from the dogs for them

to crop and sell.

All five dogs are sent for treatment
to safeguard their health

and well-being.

It takes 16 months for the case
to make it to court in February 2024.

Once I've completed my
investigation, I then submit a case

file to the RSPCA prosecution
department.

It was felt that both of the videos
showing the foxes being attacked

by the dogs were evidence
of offences that we could prove

that the suspect had committed.

It paints a narrative that is hard
for him to avoid,

in that we have a picture of him
holding a deceased fox in the same

location as the video is
taking place.

Not only that, we have him
named during the video.

The evidence is so compelling,
the suspect pleads guilty.

Along with pleading guilty,

they also signed over the three

remaining bull breeds, which was
fantastic as it meant their welfare

was secured as well.

The suspect is sentenced to two
and a half years in prison

and received a lifetime ban
from keeping all animals.

Personally, this is the longest
sentence that I've had involved

in one of my cases for wildlife
persecution.

The bans that were handed

down are a great result,

because that lifetime ban
stops the suspect himself

from being in control of any
more animals.

It's really important in these types
of cases that we have individuals

being given custodial sentences.

Then this is likely to deter
this sort of crime.

Ultimately, I think it sends
a message that if you choose to use

dogs for these kind of activities,
that you face never being able

to own another animal again,
which is as it should be.

It's the knowledge of knowing
that you will be caught

and you will be given a tough
sentence that has that really

important deterrent value.

This case will definitely
be one that stays with me.

The sheer amount of suffering that
was contained within that mobile

phone can't be understated.

At the end of the day, owning
an animal is a huge privilege,

and if you can't be trusted
with that, then ultimately

you just shouldn't have
responsibility for an animal at all.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media