Derbyshire dog trainer caused death of 'much-loved' pet while owners were on holiday
The judge said the incident was 'out of character' for the trainer and chose to not ban him from keeping dogs
A dog trainer from Chesterfield has been found guilty of causing the death of a Tamaskan wolfdog.
Daniel Fullwood, 29, had denied inflicting blunt force trauma on 18-month-old Freya who was being boarded with him while her owners were on holiday.
He was convicted of the offence after a trial at Derby Crown Court in February following an investigation and prosecution by the RSPCA.
At a sentencing hearing on April 10, Fullwood was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work, but no disqualification order preventing him from keeping animals was imposed by the judge.
Derby Crown Court heard that Freya’s owners needed help with lead walking and had taken her to the kennels he runs on December 1, 2023, for boarding and training while they went on holiday.
On December 6, whilst they were still abroad, they received a call from the kennels informing them Freya had become lethargic and been taken to a local vet where staff had tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her for 20 minutes before she passed away.
After the owners requested a post-mortem, results from it showed Freya had suffered multiple lacerations to her liver which had been caused by blunt force trauma.
No other injuries were identified and the report said it was considered they were the result of a single traumatic impact to the dog’s abdomen.
The findings led the owners to contact the RSPCA, who started an investigation.
At his trial, Fullwood, who had pleaded not guilty, said another member of staff was the first person to see Freya between 8am and 8.10am on December 6.
He then started the first training session with her between about 9.20am and 9.30am on the concrete yard with three other members of staff present.
To begin with, Fullwood said she was “"excitable" but after five minutes her demeanour changed and it very quickly became apparent that something wasn’t right.
Freya lay down when asked to sit, and when subsequently asked to walk, she appeared very tired, the court heard.
At around 9.35am to 9.40am, Fullwood said he took Freya back to her kennel, where she lay down again.
An emergency appointment was arranged with a vet, but by 9.40am to 9.50am she had fully collapsed.
He said he carried her to a car, arriving at the vets at 9.55am, but despite efforts to resuscitate her she could not be saved.
He told the court he couldn’t explain how Freya, who weighed 24kg (52.91 pounds), had sustained the injury to her liver, describing her as "ridiculously excited" while in her kennel and bouncing from wall to wall.
A member of kennel staff, who also gave evidence, said Freya was fine when they attended to her first thing that morning.
They added they had then observed Fullwood training her, the pair were walking in large circles and all appeared to be well.
The staff member was then told Fullwood had needed to rush Freya to the vets and was later informed she had died.
A vet who reviewed the post mortem report and gave evidence at the trial for the RSPCA, said: "Freya was behaving excitedly at the beginning of her training session with Daniel Fullwood but after five minutes her demeanour changed and she began to appear very lethargic, began dragging her feet and wanted to lie down.
"These clinical signs would have all been associated with her falling blood pressure and the pain associated with the abdominal trauma.
"These signs indicate that Freya had sustained the injury to her liver at this time.
"Therefore, the liver injury had occurred at the beginning of the training session, after Freya had been removed from her kennel and before she began showing signs of lethargy five minutes later in response to her rapid blood loss and abdominal pain.
"In my opinion Freya would have suffered as a consequence of the blunt force trauma to her abdomen resulting in multiple lacerations of the liver."
The court was told that CCTV covered the kennel blocks, grass, house, main gate and yard and the system stored the recordings for 30 days.
Footage from December 6 had not been retained and Fullwood had not taken Freya in view of the camera on the yard.
In mitigation, the court was told that what had happened to Freya was an "isolated incident" reflective of a loss of judgement which had already had a significant impact on Fullwood, who had lost his job as a result.
During sentencing, Judge Martin Hurst said significant force had been used, either in a commercial context or aggravated by professional responsibility, and there was no dispute it led to Freya’s death.
The judge added that the incident had been "completely out of character" and that disqualifying Fullwood from keeping dogs would be disproportionate to him and his family.
He also concluded there was no relevant CCTV footage and the incident had not been observed by anybody else.
Judge Martin Hurst also added that the defendant had homed a very large number of dogs, two in particular could only be exercised or taken to the vet if Fullwood was with them, and they faced being put to sleep if he was banned.
Speaking after sentencing, Inspector Bird said: "It was an extremely upsetting case as Freya was so young and her owners were devastated by what happened to their much-loved dog."