NHS boss fined for letting dog die in horsebox ‘oven’

An NHS executive let a dog die in a horsebox “oven” while his wife competed in an endurance race, a court heard.

Iain Cockley-adams, 57, left two dogs in the vehicle to watch the event at Euston Hall, Suffolk, last June.

Ipswich magistrates’ court was told how staff at the home opened the horsebox after temperatures soared to 84F (29C). Stable guard Glyn Thompson said: “It was like opening an oven door.”

One of the dogs, a 12-year-old labrador and collie cross, had collapsed and was later put down. The other dog survived.

Cockley-adams, the deputy head of integrated community teams at Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust, denied causing unnecessary suffering and failing to ensure the welfare of his dogs. He was fined £1,750 and ordered to pay £1,600 in court costs.