A SOLIHULL petsitter and her partner have been sentenced after videos emerged of them dragging, kicking, hitting and screaming at dogs they were being paid to look after.
Petsitter Paige Williams, 26, of Kenilworth Road, Knowle, West Midlands, billed a family to take care of their three dogs, two cats and two birds of prey while they were away for four weeks on holiday in July and August 2024.
Her partner – Bradley Regan Archer, 27, previously of Balsall Street, Balsall Common – joined her at the family’s home, in Balsall Common, to help take care of the animals.
When the family returned from holiday they looked back at footage captured on cameras in the kitchen and garden and found the distressing footage.
The couple appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court after Williams pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to meet the needs of two dogs under section nine of the Animal Welfare Act.
Archer had earlier pleaded not guilty and was due to stand trial but changed his plea on the day.
Magistrates sentenced Williams to a 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work and ordered her to pay £350 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
Archer was also sentenced to a 12-month community order with 40 hours of unpaid work, and the court ordered him to pay £750 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
Both were disqualified from keeping all animals for seven years.
This means Williams can no longer be responsible for the care of any animal, and therefore should not operate as a petsitter.
All of the incidents captured on the cameras involved a 13-month-old dog called Ayrton and a three-year-old dog called Frieda – both German Shorthaired Pointers – and did not relate to the third dog, the cats or the birds.
Commercial petsitter Williams – who operated under the name Fur and Filly PetCare Services – was charging £1,400 to look after the animals.
RSPCA Inspector Ben Jones, who carried out the investigation on behalf of the RSPCA, said: “It’s a big decision to leave your pets in the care of someone else and, in this case, the family were leaving their pets with someone they felt they could trust.
“Sadly, Williams and Archer betrayed their trust with care that fell below the standards the law requires, with Ayrton and Feida subject to four weeks of wanton intimidatory behaviour and abuse.
“What made this case even more shocking is that they were clearly aware of the presence of the cameras and even appeared to speak directly to the dogs’ owners through the cameras amid such inappropriate animal care.
“Poor Ayrton seemed to be at the sharp end of most of Williams and Archer’s anger; he was locked in a crate which left him crying and whining, he was tethered to a tree – with water left just out of his reach – and he was chased around the garden and threatened with a stick.
“He was handled very inappropriately, with a slip lead used to yank him around and even flip him up into the air. When he jumped up at Archer he was whipped at several times with the same lead.”
