Couple locked up for selling ill and malnourished kittens

A DISGRACED police officer and her boyfriend have been jailed for selling sick and dying kittens in a £280,000 scam.

Former British Transport Police officer Amy Byrne, 30, and her partner Harry Angell, 31, bought and bred kittens to sell from just £50 to in excess of £1,500. But when customers received their pets, many found they were malnourished, ill and covered in their own urine or faeces.

The couple used at least 33 different fake names in their adverts. These aliases included the genuine charity Cat Cuddles Rehoming and the ID of someone who had bought a cat from them.

Byrne lied to buyers that she was a veterinary and that the kittens had been wormed and microchipped. The health certificates that she provided with them also turned out to be fake.

One victim said she arranged to buy a male kitten off the pair as a surprise for her autistic son who had recently lost his cat. Her son made a thank you card for Byrne which she accepted as she dropped off the kitten.

After Byrne left, the mum realised the kitten was female, thin and had diarrhoea stuck in her fur. The kitten died a short time later.

At Woolwich Crown Court on May 5, the couple pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and breaches of the Animal Welfare Act. Angell was sentenced to three years, four months and Byrne was jailed for three years and eight months.

The couple, of Bexleyheath, southeast London, were also disqualified

‘Children were excited about a new member of the family only to see them die days later’

from owning pets with no appeal for 10 years.

Hazel Stevens, the RSPCA prosecutor, gave six examples where kittens died soon after being purchased. She said: “There were human and animal victims in this. Humans were at risk of getting these illnesses from the cat. Children were excited about a new member of the family, including one child who made a card to thank Amy Byrne, only to see them die days later.”