A man caught on CCTV repeatedly whipping his dog has pleaded guilty – months after the Barking and Dagenham Post first reported on claims of police inaction over the case.
Gareth Cox, 45 of Manor Square, Dagenham, had pleaded guilty to an offence of failing to prevent his pet XL Bully, named Cyrus, from suffering.
He admitted “hitting the dog approximately nine times with a metal lead” – a breach of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 – at Willesden Magistrates’ Court.
The offence carries a maximum sentence of 51 weeks’ custody or an unlimited fine.
He was captured on camera whipping the dog on May 22, but Colin Aylward, whose CCTV recorded the footage, approached the Post in June after police failed to respond to his report.
“They haven’t even bothered attending,” he said. “Haven’t even so much as called me.”
We published his CCTV of the brutal attack, in which the dog was also hoisted by its throat, on our website and interviewed an expert dog trainer who said the behaviour filmed was abusive and could make the XL Bully aggressive.
We ran a second story in July when Mr Aylward – of Chittys Lane – said police still hadn’t been to collect his video footage.
“If this dog one day attacks and kills then blood is truly on their hands,” he said of the police.
Later that month, police finally executed a warrant at an address in Manor Square and seized Cox’s dog, taking it to police kennels.
Cox was interviewed under caution but not arrested.
When he eventually appeared at Willesden Magistrates’ last week, he also pleaded guilty to breaching the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 by allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place – namely Chittys Lane – without a muzzle or lead.
That offence carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison or an unlimited fine.
He will be sentenced in February.
