Man Convicted After Dog Found in Chiswick with Fractured Leg


Found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a French bulldog

Marcel the French bulldog with a fractured leg
Marcel the French bulldog with a fractured leg. Picture: RSPCA

A man has been convicted in his absence after police needed to take in an injured dog in Chiswick.

They removed the dog from a member of the public on 24 May 2019 and called RSPCA Inspector Callum Isitt.

He said, “Police thought the dog - a French bulldog called King - had a broken leg. I established that he’d been taken to a vet but the owner refused treatment for the injury, believed to have occurred around three to four days earlier.

“King walked with an obvious lameness. When standing, he raised his leg off the floor as if to keep his weight off of it, even though he was already receiving pain medication.

“The vet who had originally seen King said his owner had explained that he’d accidentally trod on him or kicked him and he’d fallen down the stairs. She said there was swelling to the dog’s foot and that he yelped when she touched it.

“She claimed the man became irritated when she explained that she couldn’t be sure whether it was soft tissue damage or a fracture without an x-ray and he refused to pay for an x-ray. She explained that King would need pain relief, would need an x-ray and would need to see another vet but his owner left and refused this treatment.”

32-year-old Saied Arab of Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, Harmondsworth was charged with one offence of causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. He was due to appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 2 February but failed to attend so magistrates heard the case in his absence and found him guilty.

A warrant has now been issued for his arrest and magistrates issued a deprivation order for King - who has remained in RSPCA care - meaning he can now be rehomed permanently.

King - now named Marcel - has been in a foster home since arriving in RSPCA care and will now be adopted by his foster family.

Marcel in a new home with his adoptive brother
Marcel in a new home with his adoptive brother

RSPCA worker Lisa Stokes and her sister, Joanne, have been caring for Marcel. Lisa said, “Marcel loves to snooze with his Staffy brother, Ben, and go for long walks in the countryside. He was struggling to breathe and was unable to play so he recently had surgery to help with his breathing and he’s now fully recovered and doing really well. He’s very active and can now play and run.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

February 11, 2021