15 May 2023 , 03:00
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A police officer and her boyfriend have been jailed for selling dying kittens in a £280,000 scam.
Former British Transport Police officer, Amy Byrne, 30, and her partner, Harry Angell, 31, bought and bred kittens to sell from £50. On some occasions, the couple charged more than £1,500.
But when customers received their new pets, many found they were malnourished, ill and covered in their own urine or faeces.
Byrne lied to buyers that she was a vet and that the kittens had been wormed and microchipped, with the health certificates she provided turning out to be fake.
One victim said she arranged to buy a male kitten off the pair as a surprise for her autistic son who had recently lost his cat. Her son made a thank you card for Byrne which she accepted as she dropped off the kitten.
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One of the sick kittens that Amy Byrne sold (RSPCA / SWNS)After Byrne left, the mum realised the kitten was female, thin and had diarrhoea stuck in her fur. The kitten died a short time later.
At Woolwich Crown Court on May 5, the couple pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and breaches of the Animal Welfare Act.
Angell was jailed for three years and four months, while Byrne was jailed for three years and eight months. The couple were also disqualified from owning pets with no appeal for 10 years.
RSPCA prosecutor Hazel Stevens gave six examples where kittens died soon after being purchased. She said: "There were human and animal victims in this. Humans were at risk of getting these illnesses from the cat."
Another victim of their scam said: "We were so looking forward to giving a home to a new kitten. We instantly fell in love with Elsa who was so sleepy and cuddly when we got her.
The animals were found to be suffering with various health problems (RSPCA / SWNS)"We were just devastated to watch her slowly go downhill, monitoring her eating so little, trying to rid her of the worms she arrived with and taking her to the vet for numerous checks and tests.
"She spent her last two days in the animal hospital with them trying everything to make her better but she gave up the fight."
When the owners got back in contact with Byrne and Angell after the sale they were often ignored.
On one occasion a distraught buyer turned up at their house to ask for their money back, to which Angell replied: "You bought the kitten from me not Amy, but I am not giving you a f**ing penny."
With the volume of complaints that the Trading Standards, the RSPCA and the police were receiving, a search was carried out at the couple's home in Bexleyheath, south east London, on August 26, 2021.
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The kittens were kept in hutches in the garden (RSPCA / SWNS)A total of 17 kittens were found on the premises on the day of the search and a vet judged that six of them were suffering.
Those six cats were confiscated and one died a short time later, the RSPCA said.
A number of the kittens were living in hutches outside the house in the garden and their history of sales and complaints stretched back as far as 2015.
After the sentencing RSPCA inspector Kirsten Ormerod said: "This case shows why it is so important that anyone wanting to welcome a new kitten into their life needs to be careful when choosing him or her.
"There are many unsuitable breeders out there who can fool people into thinking the animals are healthy and are a one-off litter from a much loved pet, but often this is far from the truth.
"It is vital that new owners take the time to make sure their new pet has not come from one of them."