WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
Chance the Labrador sadly had to be euthanised due to his injuries.(Image: RSPCA)
A woman has been banned from keeping animals for 15 years. Ellen Gibson, 26, of Ropery Close, Kilham, Driffield, was also sentenced to a 23-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, after she was found to be responsible for causing unnecessary suffering to two animals at Trekenning Tourist Park in Newquay between December 2024 and April 2025.
Gibson, who is a former professional dog walker, pleaded guilty on charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a cat, known as Casper, by failing to get vets’ care for his rib fractures, and a separate charge of failing to get appropriate medical care for his eye injuries. She also pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to Chance the Labrador. Gibson was ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a £154 surcharge when she appeared for sentencing at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court on September 11.
Jordan Wood, who is from Newquay, was also charged with three offences relating to Chance and Casper. Wood, 25, was jailed for 18 months and banned from keeping animals for life. He was sentenced last month after pleading guilty to three animal welfare offences, including causing physical abuse to Chance and Casper, and failing to get prompt and effective help for Casper when he suffered rib fractures and eye injuries.
A vet first raised concerns about the welfare of the pets and the nature of their injuries in April last year, when Chance was taken to a vet with various injuries. An RSPCA investigation began when the vet alerted the animal welfare charity.
Officers visited the address, where Chance was seized by police and taken into RSPCA care. He was taken for further checks which found that he suffered multiple traumatic head, throat, and spinal injuries over several months. He also had his whiskers burned off.
Both the left and right frontal bones of the skull involving the frontal sinuses were fractured, as well as a small fracture of the external sagittal crest. The owners claimed he had run into a fence, but vets found his injuries to be inconsistent with this claim.
Chance’s throat and windpipe showed injuries which were consistent with strangulation. The damage was so severe it had altered the size of his airway. His windpipe also had an abnormal, flattened profile with an over-distended muscle, which was consistent with repeated compression from a collar.
A fracture in his spine indicated a high-level blunt force applied to the lower spine. He had swelling, bruising, and skin abrasions around both eyes, the face, ears, and mid-neck, consistent with blunt force blows or tight ligatures. Sadly, Chance’s injuries were so severe that he required euthanasia because of complications from his pre-existing throat fractures while in RSPCA care.
Casper the cat was presented deceased a few months later in August 2025 after he sustained catastrophic injuries from at least three separate timelines of blunt force trauma to his chest, alongside skeletal and severe head trauma. Alongside the rib fractures, which were healing at different rates showing three separate stages of injuries, he also had a dislocation of the sternum, and limb fractures.
Investigations found he also had damage to his internal organs, with a laceration of the liver, and ruptured alveoli in the lungs and signs of head trauma with laceration of the right temporal region of the skull and right temporal muscle. Multiple cartilage fractures in both ears gave them a crinkled appearance. Casper had also suffered severe eye trauma and blindness.
At the time of his death, he had bilaterally swollen eyelids and conjunctiva, retinal detachment, lens rupture, and pus was accumulating within the eyeballs. His cause of death was found to be severe blunt force trauma to the chest, resulting in extensive lung collapse and respiratory failure.
“The finding of bilateral rib fractures across multiple timelines is a powerful diagnostic indicator of physical abuse – often caused by an animal being deliberately kicked, stepped on, or thrown,” Dr. Taylor noted in the vet report. “Both animals were forced to endure severe physical pain and prolonged mental torment before succumbing to their injuries”. In mitigation, it was said she had less culpability than her then partner and that at the time their relationship was difficult.
RSPCA Inspector Jack Alderson, who investigated for the animal welfare charity, said: “The cruelty inflicted upon innocent animals like Chance and Casper is an unforgivable betrayal of trust. Every living creature deserves a life free from suffering and filled with compassion.”
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