Pet-ban breach case thrown out

THE case against an animal lover accused of breaching the terms of an order which banned him from keeping pets has been thrown out of court by Oldham magistrates.

John Ord Clark (43), of Portland Street, Ashton, was prohibited from owning, keeping, participating in keeping or influencing the keeping of any animals for five years in April.

He was also jailed for three months after animal welfare officers found more than 1,000 exotic creatures at a house in Dowry Street, Fitton Hill, which Mr Clark owns but does not live in, in July, 2008.

In June this year, animal welfare officers obtained a warrant to search the three-bedroom, semi-detached property after a random check revealed a newly-built aviary in the back garden.

Officers found a dog, an eagle owl and two tanks of fish in the house. Mr Clark, his partner Bethany Wardle and their two children were present at the time.

When Ian Millett, senior dog warden at Oldham Council, questioned Miss Wardle she said she owned the dog and the owl.

She produced a receipt for neutering in her name and a vets bill in her name. She did not produce any proof of ownership for the owl.

Andy Evans, prosecuting, told magistrates that by being at the property Mr Clark had breached the terms of his court order as he had some influence in how the animals were kept and no official proof of ownership of the animals had been handed over.

But Ben Knight, defending, asked the bench to throw the case out of court saying that the evidence against Mr Clark was not strong enough to proceed.

He said that it was not Mr Clark’s job to prove he didn’t own the animals but it was the prosecution’s job to prove that he did and they did not have this proof.

Rejecting the prosecution case, chairman of the bench Phil Coombe said there was insufficient evidence and that the prosecution could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Clark had breached the terms of the order.