GRIMSBY WOMAN JAILED FOR STARVING DOG TO DEATH IN 'MOST ABHORRENT' CASE
A Grimsby woman has been sentenced after pleading guilty to causing the unnecessary suffering of an animal.Helen Knibbs, 45, of Winchester Avenue admitted starving a Staffordshire bull terrier dog, resulting in its death.
Knibbs appeared at Grimsby Magistrates Court on November 7 and was sentenced to three months in prison.
She was also disqualified from owning all animals for 10 years, which she cannot appeal for four years, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154.
The court heard that the RSPCA had visited the property twice in September and October 2023, after receiving reports with concerns for the dog.
However, Knibbs denied having the animal and refused to allow the officers inside the property.
Following more reports, RPCA Inspector Natalie Hill contacted Humberside Police who issued a warrant to enter the house in November.
The RSPCA inspector and the police officers sadly discovered the female dog dead inside an outbuilding.
In her witness statement, Inspector Hill said: “Inside this shed-like building there was a chest freezer, bikes, shelving and other household items, no area of the floor was clear.
There were, what I believe, dog faeces at the doorway, old and dried.
“Just in front of the chest freezer on, what looked like, a sleeping bag was a deceased brindle Staffie type dog with some white on the neck area.
The body condition of the dog was skeletal.
[To collect the body for evidence] I was required to peel the dog’s head from the bedding material due to the decomposition - the smell was overwhelming.” The dog was taken to a vet for examination, however a post mortem was not possible due to the decomposition of the body.
Despite this, vets were able to confirm that the body condition was emaciated, and her death was likely caused by starvation.
In sentencing, the District Judge remarked on the ‘disgusting offence’ and said: “I have sat as a judge for 20 years and prior to that 17 years in private practice.
I have seen some gruesome photos and dealt with unpleasant offences in animal welfare.
As far as this case goes this is one of the most abhorrent awful crimes I have sentenced.
I do not accept that in this case you have done anything but ignore a dog starving to death in excruciating pain.” After sentencing, RSPCA Inspector Natalie Hill said: “This was an incredibly difficult and upsetting case to investigate and this dog’s sad death has really stayed with me.
To think of her alone inside that outbuilding, without food and just waiting for someone to let her out, is utterly heartbreaking.” According to the RSPCA, another person was brought to court as part of the same investigation, and was sentenced earlier this year, after pleading guilty to the same one offence, relating to the dog.
They were sentenced to a three month immediate jail sentence, and disqualified from owning all animals for 10 years, which they cannot appeal for four years.
