CONVICTED (2019) | Jamie Chapman Cole, born 27 September 1996, of Pond Farm Close, Saltburn-by-the-Sea TS13 5HJ – for the starvation and neglect of his cocker spaniel dog Jamie Cole’s dog Blue was described as shockingly thin, but the gamekeeper was not banned from keeping animals. Vets estimated that gamekeeper Jamie Cole had neglected and starved his 10-month-old dog, known as Blue, for three to four weeks. On 4 February 2019 Cole, who at the time was based at a farm near Minsterley in Shropshire, took Blue to the Malthouse Veterinary Group in Shrewsbury complaining of diarrhoea. Vets there found her to have sunken eyes, a low body temperature, weighing only 6kgs and unable to stand on her own for long. RSPCA prosecutor Roger Price told the court that a healthy body temperature for dogs would be between 38 and 39.2 degrees and the vet who assessed Blue used a thermometer that would only go as low as 32, which indicated that her temperature was at or below that threshold. Blue was taken in and placed on a bed with a heat lamp to try and raise her body temperature, and ate “ravenously” when fed, Mr Price said. Blue’s condition improved and she was seen on February 6 by another vet at Taylor & Marshall. That vet described Blue as “shockingly thin” and said she was likely to have been in her condition for three to four weeks. She had been suffering with a “large amount” of roundworms as well, Mr Price said. Her condition continued to improve in the vets’ care and she gained weight. The court heard that Cole was an experienced handler of dogs, and that several other dogs he had responsibility for at the time were healthy and happy. Cole’s representative Georgia Griffiths told the magistrates: “This is a man who’s incredibly upset with what’s happened. He feels terrible in himself for letting it happen, and letting the dog down and himself down.” Being a gamekeeper was a “lifelong dream” and he had always had a good relationship with dogs, she said, but after his failure to care for Blue he has given up his other dogs and his job voluntarily and moved to be with his family in Yorkshire. “His dream has been squashed by his own actions but he wasn’t malicious, and he didn’t do it on purpose.” Chair of the bench Lesley Thirlwell said: “You were proactive in giving up your job, your animals and changing your lifestyle completely. “We feel that that was punishment over and above the punishment the courts were going to make. “You have shown remorse and already changed your lifestyle, and that has convinced us you will not be acquiring any dog in the near future.” Sentencing | community order including 80 hours of unpaid work; ordered to pay £485. Deprivation order on Blue but no ban on keeping animals was imposed by the court. Shropshire Star