A CRUEL puppy farming gang who made £300,000 by selling sick and dying dogs have been jailed.
The smugglers' ring scamming unsuspecting Brits into buying ill animals using fraudulent vaccination documents.
Police raided a travellers' site in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, and seized 54 dogs.
Cocker spaniels, Schnauzers, Chihuahuas, springer spaniels, Labradors, beagles and poodles were among the breeds kept in horrible conditions in tiny cages and in the back of lorries.
Pens were full of hazards with nails sticking out, sharp metal mesh and wires hanging down.
The three youngest puppies were kept in a dark, cold pen with only dirty water and bedding that smelt of urine, the RSPCA said.
Some pets had bad infections and bloated abdomens from lack of food, while some of them were left in such confined spaces they tried to chew through the walls and floors.
PET HORROR
The dogs were shipped to Britain from Ireland and riddled with disease when they were sold on the website Pets4Homes to unsuspecting customers.
But the dogs were so sick some did not even make it to be sold, while others died after their new owners bought them.
Six members of the same family were among the 13 defendants who were jailed for a total of more than 18 years.
Members of the Cawley Traveller family admitted ownership of some dogs but claimed they did not know who owned others.
Dogs were kept in poor conditions in lorry containers and the backs of vans and were often riddled with health problems
Frontmen Daniel Yeboah, 44, John, 49, and Wendy O'Brien, 32, Rebecca Hall, 30, and Austin Paice, 32, placed a series of adverts under false names online to flog the mistreated animals.
At Aylesbury Crown Court on yesterday and Wednesday, 10 defendants pleaded guilty to fraud.
Nine also admitted animal welfare offences, while a further three pleading guilty to animal welfare charges.
Seven were handed immediate jail terms totalling more than 18 years – the longest combined prison sentences an RSPCA investigation has ever seen.
PUPPY HEARTACHE
After the sentencing, lead RSPCA investigator Michelle Hare, said: "Dogs were kept in poor conditions in lorry containers and the backs of vans.
"[They] were often riddled with health problems but were sold to innocent families who were hoping to add a dog to their homes but were, instead, left with staggering vet bills, dogs with complicated needs and, for some, the heartache of losing their puppy."
The probe began in November 2019 when the RSPCA and Trading Standards received a large number of complaints about the sale of puppies around the Milton Keynes area.
Investigators linked the cases when CCTV footage showed John Cawley delivering puppies in a van after leaving the Willen Road Travellers site in Newport Pagnell, Bucks.
NINE JAILED
During a raid on the site, officers found empty vaccination vials and needles, alongside flea and worming products, a stack of blank vaccination sheets which matched those the victims had been given when they purchased puppies.
Photos from adverts posted online, including one for a Labrador puppy, matched with the wash house and utility space at the site, the RSPCA said.
John Christopher Cawley, 25, was jailed for three-and-a-half years while Joseph Cawley Snr, 44, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
Margaret Cawley, 46, was jailed for three years and nine months and Michael Cawley, 41, was sent to prison for two years and three months.
Daniel Yeboah, 43, was jailed for three-and-a-half years, while Annalise Cawley, 23, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Joseph Cawley Junior, 44, was given a 24-month community order with 30 days of rehabilitation activity, as well as 150 hours of unpaid work.
Mary Ward, 31, and Wendy O'Brien, 32, both of Milton Keynes, were given suspended sentences and all six were handed a 10-year disqualification from keeping dogs.
Rebecca Hall, 30, of Milton Keynes, was jailed for four months, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £750 compensation while both John Paul O'Brien, 49, and Austin Paice, 32, were jailed for 13 months.
James Yeboah, 44, was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £1,000 costs and compensation.
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