Shropshire Star

Some of Shropshire's most shocking animal cruelty cases

After the horrific story of Shropshire woman Jennifer Lampe who beheading her two pet snakes, we take a look at some of the most shocking recent cases of animal cruelty across the county.

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Lampe, 28, of Shropshire Street in Market Drayton, admitted decapitated her pet boa constrictor and bull python at Telford Magistrates Court. She has been warned she faces jail.

Earlier this year it was revealed that animal cruelty cases were on the rise in Shropshire.

Although complaints and investigations were down nationally, statistics released in March found the number of advice or notices given out in Shropshire rose from 1,236 to 1,265. There was a total of 9,895 complaints investigated in 2015 compared to 11,740 in 2014.

Here are some of the worst recent cases of cruelty.

In May 2015 Quade Roy Adams of, Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry, was jailed for killing a puppy and a kitten who had messed on the carpet.

Judge Cadbury told Adams: "You had inflicted very serious injuries on a cat and a dog. There were two charges relating to the cat, so this was not a one-off incident. On the second occasion those injuries resulted in the death of both of these animals from blunt trauma and the most likely cause of death was by kicking or stamping."

Adams was jailed for 12 weeks and banned from keeping animals for at least five years.

Another man whose dog was found in a “skeletal” condition was banned from keeping animals for life back in April 2014.

Lee Morris leaves Telford Magistrates Court
The dog involved

Vets said the Staffordshire bull terrier had likely been suffering for about four weeks without adequate food before it was signed over to the RSPCA.

Lee Morris was also given a suspended sentence, told to complete 230 hours of unpaid work as well as being ordered to pay £1,718 and an £80 victim surcharge.

Morris of Trench, Telford, admitted the charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

In November 2015 a Shropshire man Adrian Margerison was jailed for killing his dog with an axe after feeding it painkillers.

Shrewsbury Crown Court

Margerison, who admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dog, struck his female Staffordshire bull terrier, Cracker, over the head.

Margerison, of Snailbeach Farm, Snailbeach, near Shrewsbury, had first fed the dog between eight and 10 Tramadol painkiller tablets.

But that failed to work, so he hit it over the head twice with the blunt end of an axe.

In February 2016 Telford man Samuel Boylett was jailed for causing suffering to dogs in his care, while Mark Paddock was handed a suspended sentence.

Nine terrier and lurcher-type dogs were seized from Boylett's home in Burtondale, Brookside, Telford, in a police and RSPCA raid.

Boylett was found guilty of five charges relating to dogs Tess, Jack, Pinto, Arnie and another unknown dog. He was sentenced to 24 weeks in jail and was told he could not have anything to do with dogs for 10 years.

Paddock, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of one charge relating to a single dog. He was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail, suspended for two years, and was ordered not to have anything to do with dogs for five years.

In November 2014 a couple who left their horses with an untreated disease that could have crippled them were banned from owning the animals for life after admitting causing unnecessary suffering.

One of the horses owned by Edwin and Sylvia Pope

One of the animals owned by Edwin and Sylvia Pope had developed a painful and potentially crippling disease called laminitis and was unable to move.

Five people were needed to carry the animal out a field in north Shropshire, the RSPCA said.

Edwin Pope and Sylvia Pope, of Wistanswick, in north Shropshire, admitted five charges each under the Animal Welfare Act.

Inspector Nayman Dunderdale from the RSPCA said: "This was a very upsetting case.

"One of the horses simply couldn't move and had to be carried from the field by five people.

"Unfortunately the horses hadn't been checked every day.

"They had been left to grow overweight and were suffering with laminitis."

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