‘Cruella de Vil’ avoids prison

Dundee woman given 18-month CPO for importing and selling farmed pups

A Dundee woman who imported and sold puppies which the SSPCA said had been cruelly farmed has avoided going to prison.

Jaimie Colquhoun was found guilty at Forfar Sheriff Court of doing deals in a Dundee supermarket car park and at Arbroath seafront after being snared as part of a major multi-agency operation aimed at combating puppy farming.

She was ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work under an 18-month community payback order for the so-called ‘Cruella de Vil’ offences, which her solicitor said had led to the 26-year-old being hounded from her own home.

SSPCA officials said they were disappointed Colquhoun had not been banned from keeping animals after a sheriff said the law under which she had been prosecuted for the 2015 offences did not give him that power, but the animal charity welcomed the conviction in the fight against the evil trade.

During the trial, the 26-year-old, of Dunholm Road, Dundee, said she had been offered immunity from prosecution if she went undercover to expose the puppy farmers but she declined, despite claiming a refusal would see her branded as “Cruella de Vil”.

Colquhoun travelled as a ferry foot passenger to Ireland to buy litters of pups from a man she said she knew only as Thomas.

She has since told The Courier she knew who she was collecting them from but refused to reveal who it was.

Defence solicitor Ian Houston said Colquhoun had been subjected to “a great deal of harassment and abuse” as a result of the matter.

Sheriff Gregor Murray said he was imposing the CPO as a direct alternative to prison on the charges of selling pups without a licence.

“Your actions form part of a trade that involves cruelty to animals,” he said, telling the young mother that her lack of record and parental responsibilities were factors in her not going to jail.