Unlicensed pet breeders sentenced following investigation

A pair of illegal pet breeders and sellers who made over £34,000 were sentenced in court last week, following an investigation by Dorset Council’s Animal Welfare team and Dorset Police.

Ebony Membury (25) and her father Michael Membury (58) of Dorchester, were prosecuted for the unlicensed breeding and advertising the selling of dogs, and also the sale of puppies and kittens as pets for profit.

The unlicensed activities started in 2019, with puppies purchased from breeders in different parts of the UK and selling them for profit. From 2021, the defendants bred dogs at the family home, as well as sourced kittens from a relative’s farm, which were then advertised for sale online.

In July 2020, Ms. Membury contacted Dorset Council to obtain a licence but failed to provide the correct paperwork or pay the necessary fee. Officers advised of the risk of prosecution should she continue her activities without a licence, but Ms. Membury assured officers that no further licensable activities would take place until the necessary licensing was in place. That promise was not kept as the breeding, advertising, and selling of pets continued.

Further complaints were received in July 2023 from a couple who had seen adverts for a puppy online and visited the premises. They saw puppies in very cramped conditions, with howling and barking dogs in a cupboard under the stairs, seemingly in distress. Three cats were also present, with two in a cage.

The upset couple left without buying and contacted Dorset Council to report what they saw. In August 2023, officers from Dorset Council and Dorset Police executed a search warrant at the Membury home, along with a veterinary surgeon and an RSPCA inspector.

Officers discovered:

• Two puppy litters of cockapoos and dachshunds
• Ten other dogs of a variety of breeds, housed in a very small, confined space in a cupboard under the stairs
• A dog wearing an anti-bark vibrating collar which had caused injury to its neck
• The garden littered with dog excrement, and a rabbit hutch in extremely poor condition, housing animals
• Documents associated with pet sales, referring to dogs’ names, breeding notes, customer details and deposits paid, pedigree information and vaccination records
• Large quantities of cash, suspected to be profit from the illegal activity.

An Improvement Notice was served immediately, requiring steps to be taken to ensure the animals’ welfare needs would be met. Fortunately, all the steps were taken and therefore no welfare offences were brought to the court.

It appeared the puppies were being sold for up to £2,000 each. Analyses of each of the defendant’s bank accounts demonstrated that substantial funds were generated by the unlawful business. This resulted, for example, in Ms. and Mr. Membury receiving payments of £68,333 and £45,575 respectively, relating to the selling of pets.

During interview, Mr. Membury denied he had anything to do with the breeding or selling of puppies and kittens, or was involved with his daughter in an unlicensed business despite the amount of money his bank account had received.

In a separate interview, Ms. Membury admitted to sourcing puppies from breeders and selling them for a profit, and then breeding and selling puppies and kittens herself. She denied her father was involved, despite failing to give any satisfactory explanation for the volume of money transferred between the pair.

Dorset Council took the case to Weymouth Magistrates Court in October 2024, with both defendants pleading guilty to offences under section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. At sentencing on Thursday 5 December, the court disqualified them from dealing in cats and dogs for 5 years, ordered them to pay the combined court costs of £8,898, and a victim surcharge of £114 each.

Mr. Membury was also given a community order with electronic monitoring for 4 months; curfew requiring him to be at home between 8pm and 8am 7 days a week. He was also charged £120 for money laundering offences, with a forfeiture of £2,330 plus interest.

Ms. Membury was given a 21-month community order with 150 hours community service.

Cllr Gill Taylor, Cabinet Member for Health and Housing, said:

“This activity started and continued over a lengthy period, despite the warnings of our officers. The scale and organisation of the business demonstrated it was deliberate, pre-planned, and motivated by financial gain.

“Most concerningly, the activities carried on without sufficient consideration of the animals’ welfare regarding the poor conditions they were kept in. Breeding and selling of animals are licensable activities for good reason, mainly to ensure that animals are properly cared for and not put through unnecessary suffering.

“I want to congratulate our Animal Welfare, Trading Standards, and Legal teams for this successful prosecution, and thank our colleagues at Dorset Police and the RSPCA for their assistance.”