Owner caught on CCTV beating pet dog with a mop because it 'toileted indoors'

Adam Wardle, 23, has now been banned from keeping animals for 10 years after a court was told he punched and kicked his pet dog Bobby, a three-year-old tan mastiff cross. The attack was caught on CCTV and he continued his attack on Bobby with a mop handle.

Wardle, of Bondfield Crescent, Barnsley pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the dog under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and was sentenced at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on October 11. The court was told the dog escaped serious injuries, but a vet found he suffered grazes, bruises and a bloodshot eye from the beating by a bin store outside Wardle’s former flat at Holden Court in Barnsley.

In a witness statement, RSPCA inspector Vannessa Reid said postal workers reported seeing the dog being beaten outside the property on April 25 this year and they had seen a man walking away. After discovering the incident matched a report to the charity by South Yorkshire Police, the inspector went to an assisted accommodation block, where a housing officer went through CCTV footage sited opposite Wardle’s flat.

When Inspector Reid visited his home, accompanied a police officer, he admitted the attack. When asked why he had done it, Wardle replied: “He (Bobby) toileted inside and I got angry. Then he did it again and I got doubly angry and that’s what you’ve seen.”

Bobby was collected later from the property of a friend of the defendant, where Wardle claimed he’d taken the dog “for his own safety”. The inspector took him to a vets where he was checked out and treated with painkillers. A veterinary surgeon said he found several bruises to the dog’s face, elbows and hocks, as well as a small cut on his left eye.

In mitigation, the court was told the defendant had not received his medication and, finding himself “in a dark place”, took it out on the dog. Wardle was “thoroughly ashamed” of his actions and had swiftly signed the dog over into the care of the RSPCA, the court heard.

The magistrates told Wardle his prolonged attack on the animal was a “horrendous” offence and as well as the ban, they placed him under a community order for 12 months with a requirement that he completes 20 rehabilitation activity days and 240 hours of unpaid work. The defendant, who no longer lives at the address where the attack took place, was also told to pay costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £95.

Bobby has remained in the care of the RSPCA and will be rehomed.