Scots cop takes down puppy farm after dog bought for her kids dies days later
An off-duty cop brought down a puppy farm operation after a tiny dog she bought for her children died just three days later.
Elaine McArthur was among 20 people who bought puppies from Julie Taylor, who was selling dogs riddled with disease from her council house in Stewarton, Ayrshire. After enduring a three-day nightmare over a Christmas weekend, Elaine's cockapoo pup Marley fought for life then died of deadly parvo virus.
Distraught mum Elaine turned the tables on Taylor by calling in SSPCA investigators, who raided the trader's home and shut the operation down. Taylor, 41, was caught red-handed with 16 terrified dogs, of various breeds, being held in a filthy toilet and covered in dog waste.
Taylor admitted cruelty and operating without a licence, which saw her banned from keeping dogs for 10 years at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court yesterday. Police constable Elaine, from Kilmarnock, told how she was buying the pup for her 11-year-old twins Jack and Amy two days before Christmas in 2023.
All three had fallen in love with the pup on sight. But after taking the pup home he fell ill with parvo virus and a vet had to put him to sleep three days later.
Elaine said: 'The experience was very traumatic for all of us and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It was a real ordeal for the family and it was all about these people making easy money. Amy was really badly affected by it all. She didn't want another dog because she was really broken hearted.'
She added: 'The only positive thing I can say, which is also terrible, is that if I hadn't gone along there the pup might have died alone in what was effectively a cage, suffering a terrible death. I also hope that we managed to put these people out of business, although I'm sure the people supplying the pups will still be operating elsewhere.'
Taylor had told customers on sites like Pets4Homes that the pups were the offspring of her family's pet. But the sales methods by sneaky Taylor – who allowed other sellers to use her home on David Dale Avenue – has been described as 'straight out of the handbook for puppy farm shop fronts' by an SSPCA inspector.
Elaine – a PC with 30 years' experience – said alarm bells were sounded due to the bad smell in the house. She was swayed because she didn't want to go back to kids Amy and Jack without a pup.
The police officer said Marley was frail when they got him home and started to cough up traces of blood. Elaine, 52, took Marley to the vet, where parvo virus was diagnosed.
She told how she went straight to Stewarton to confront the seller, a woman who called herself Jackie. But she ended up face to face with Julie Taylor, to whom she'd transferred £800 to buy the pup.
She said: 'I was really upset but I was also angry and I was determined to stop the same thing happening to other families. I went straight from the vet to Stewarton along with a friend and by the time I got there another couple had turned up at the door to buy another dog. I advised them to clear out because my dog had been diagnosed with parvo.'
While Elaine was there, Taylor appeared and she said that Jackie was her sister. Elaine managed to get Taylor to refund the £800 she paid for the pup, as well as agree to pay the vet's bill of £1200.
She said: 'I didn't say what I did for a living but I told her to go ahead and call whoever she liked, as I was doing everything I was entitled to – including calling the SSPCA.'
Elaine was determined to see justice done and supported the investigation into Taylor – resulting in a conviction for animal abuse. Taylor admitted neglecting the pets and selling them without a licence and at her home between July 2023 and March 2024.
She failed to take steps to ensure the needs of the animals were met from December 2023 to March 2024 at her home and elsewhere. Taylor also cruelly separated puppies from their mothers and failed to provide them with suitable and hygienic living conditions.
She pleaded guilty, with not guilty pleas accepted regarding 20 further allegations. In court yesterday, Taylor's defence lawyer Graeme Cunningham said he could not deny that she was the front of an 'abhorrent' puppy farm operation, where dogs were badly treated then sold on for large amounts of cash.
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Cunningham said his client had found herself in debt to criminals who masterminded the operation and was repaying the majority of her sordid profits to them. He said: 'This is a puppy farm in a council estate in Stewarton. It is a trade that the vast majority of decent people would think to be abhorrent.'
The lawyer admitted that Taylor had been overwhelmed by the pups and was unable to care for them – despite having two dogs of her own that were allowed to sleep in her own bed. Passing sentence, Sheriff Morag Fraser said she would show mercy to Taylor for her good previous record but passed the most serious alternative available to her.
She said: 'I have to think of animal protection. The condition of these dogs was awful and they must have suffered a great deal.'
She banned Taylor for 10 years from keeping animals and imposed a Community Payback Order of 18 months, to include unpaid work of 240 hours. Taylor was ordered to wear a tag to restrict her movements for five months.
She will also face a Proceeds of Crime investigation and could have thousands of pounds clawed back.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
'Hundreds' of families linked to Highland clan face losing memorials to loved ones in estate sale
Cash-strapped Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) is selling its estate on Skye, which includes a castle and historic lands of the Clan Donald. Hundreds of families with ties to an ancient Scots clan face losing loved ones' memorials after their remaining lands were put up for sale. Cash-strapped Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) is selling its South Sleat Estate on Skye, which includes a castle and historic lands of the Clan Donald. The estate, which covers much of the southern Sleat peninsula, has a guide price of almost £6.8million. The 40-acre Armadale Castle and surrounding gardens are being offered at a separate guide price of over £995,000. But more than 100 families have paid for memorials in the gardens, ranging from the low hundreds to £7000. At least 450 trees are said to have been planted in honour of lost relatives, as well as benches and wall plaques. Morag McDonald, who has a bench in the gardens for her late Uncle George, said: "I feel a whole across the mixture of emotions for my from grief and sadness to anger. "The lack of communication is just awful. There is a lack of integrity among the people running the Trust. "Apart from the fact there's a very emotive issue with the 450 memorial trees, the whole gardens are actually of global ecological interest because there are rare and protected species here. "Now we've absolutely no idea what's going to happen to the trees. "What is going to happen to the memorial plaques? Some of these cost thousands of pounds. "Then there's the benches. I presume the benches are just going to end up in a skip. "It's the absolute abject disrespect that people are being treated with." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Local man Rob Ware, who has planted four memorial trees for his late mum and dad, a granny and an uncle, accused the charity of 'a complete breach of trust'. He told the Sunday Mail: "For me, it has always been a place of pilgrimage and a place of reflection of tranquility. "Because I don't have graveyards for my parents who were cremated, I've visited that place many times over the years, particularly when the gardens were open during winter. "I liked to go up on Christmas morning and say a few words, and maybe in my mum's case, pour a wee dram across the tree. "People bought these memorials in good faith and since the sale was announced, there has been absolutely no communication, as far as I'm aware, with anybody. "The question now is the uncertainty of that. Will some rich sheikh come along with £2.5million and buy the whole lot?' As of last week, the Trust still had a live JustGiving crowdfunding page to help with the upkeep of the castle, gardens and Clan Centre museum within the grounds - despite all now being on the open market. Estate agent Strutt and Parker listed seven lots for sale individually. The castle estate has a guide price of £2.76million. The CLDT was set up in the early 1970s to take over what remained of the 800-year-old Clan's lands, once among the most powerful families in Scotland. It announced in late March the sale of all its lands and properties due to financial challenges but has faced fierce opposition over claims Clan members and the local community in Sleat, Skye, weren't properly consulted. The Clan's High Chief Lord Godfrey Macdonald has said the loss of the Clan Centre in particular would be a 'tragedy' and a 'betrayal'. CLDT CEO Alex Stoddart said: "The CDLT will ensure that the best possible solution will be found for any memorials that exist. The trees at Armadale are loved and cared for." On the JustGiving page, he added: "It is entirely appropriate for a charity to look to raise funds for its charitable works which will be continuing. The donations page has been in operation for many years."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Co-op boss admits all 6.5m members had data stolen in cyber-attack
The chief executive of the Co-op has apologised to its customers after admitting that all 6.5 million of the mutual's members had their data stolen in a recent cyber-attack. Shirine Khoury-Haq told the BBC she was 'incredibly sorry' for the attack in which names and addresses and contact information was obtained by hackers. She said no financial information, such as credit or debit card details, or transaction data was stolen in the hack, which occurred in April. 'We know a lot of that information is out there anyway, but people will be worried and all members should be concerned,' she said. Previously, the company had only said that a 'significant number' of its customers' data had been accessed by the hackers, but did not give a precise figure. 'It hurt my members, they took their data and it hurt our customers and that I do take personally,' Khoury-Haq said. The group, which owns more than 2,000 grocery stores, more than 800 funeral parlours and also offers legal and financial services, was forced to shut down parts of its IT systems in late April after discovering an attempted hack, days after Marks & Spencer also faced a serious cyber-incident. The cyber-attack on the Co-op led to gaps on shelves in its grocery stores while its funeral parlours forced to return to operating some services via paper-based systems without access to digital services. Co-op executives told MPs recently that many of its systems were protected from attack because it had defences in place which detected unusual behaviour within a few hours. However, the company admitted it was not expecting to make 'any significant recovery' of the costs of the hack from insurers as it chose to invest in detection systems rather than cyber-insurance policies. Last week, four people including three teenagers were arrested at addresses in the West Midlands, Staffordshire and London as part of an investigation into the cyber-attacks on the Co-op, M&S and Harrods, which all occurred within days of one another. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The National Crime Agency, which is investigating the hacks alongside the police, is looking at the involvement of Scattered Spider, a loose collective of native English-speaking hackers. The Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection watchdog, has said those concerned about their personal information should visit its website for advice and support. Retailers and their suppliers have faced a series of cyber-attacks in recent years including Morrisons, which was affected by an incident at its tech supplier Blue Yonder in the run-up to Christmas last year. In 2023, WH Smith was hit by an attack in which company data was accessed illegally, including the personal details of current and former employees.
Scottish Sun
17 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Teen, 15, on trial over ISIS suicide plot to bomb Taylor Swift concert causing UK shows to be axed
Berlin's Superior Court of Justice agreed to a trial behind closed doors TAY 'BOMB' TRIAL Teen, 15, on trial over ISIS suicide plot to bomb Taylor Swift concert causing UK shows to be axed A TEEN has gone on trial over an IS suicide plot to bomb a Taylor Swift concert that led to three of the pop star's shows being axed and tighter security at her UK dates. The lad, 15, named as Mohammad A, is accused of translating bomb instructions from Arabic and sending them to the alleged mastermind. 2 Taylor Swift's concerts were supposed to take place at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna before they were cancelled due to the terror threats 2 Taylor later said she felt a 'tremendous amount of guilt' and 'new sense of fear' over threats faced by her fans Credit: Getty Austrian Beran A, 19, allegedly planned a suicide blast at an Eras tour gig in Vienna last August. German-educated Syrian Mohammad A was nicked on the day the gigs were axed after his name was found in Beran A's contacts, it was said. Shake it Off singer Taylor later said she felt a 'tremendous amount of guilt' and 'new sense of fear' over threats faced by her fans. Berlin's Superior Court of Justice agreed to a trial behind closed doors. Berlin's Superior Court of Justice agreed with his defence lawyers' request for a private trial due to his age and 'heated press coverage' of the case. Prosecutors say the teen started following Islamic State ideology in 2024 - and pledged loyalty to the terror group in a text. They have also said the main suspect in Austria, Beran A, was still under investigation. After the alleged plot emerged, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and London Mayor Sadiq Khan were accused of pressing police into giving Taylor, 35, a blue-light escort for her gigs in the capital. The London Mayor was among Labour figures who bagged freebies to her sell-out shows which took place amid heightened security.
