An unlicensed dog breeder has been ordered to pay £2,530 by magistrates after she was prosecuted by Trading Standards.
Claire O’Keefe, from Fleur-de-Lys, pleaded guilty to five offences at Newport Magistrates’ Court on Friday February 3 following an investigation by Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The council’s trading standards team received several complaints from customers who had purchased French bulldog puppies from O’Keefe between December 2015 and June 2016.
The complainants responded to puppy adverts posted by O’Keefe on the classified ad website, Gumtree, unaware that she was an unlicensed dog breeder.
O’Keefe was operating as a business while purporting to be a private seller, and investigations revealed she placed over 100 adverts on Gumtree and the Pets 4 Homes website between August 2014 and July 2016.
She also admitted that she had bred some of the pugs offered for sale and that some of the French bulldogs were imported by a third party.
At court, she admitted a charge of being an unlicensed breeder contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and four other offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
She was fined £500 – £100 for each of the five charges – and ordered to pay £2,000 prosecution costs, and a £30 victim surcharge.
O’Keefe, who has since been granted a licence, said she was unaware that she had needed one.
Cabinet Member, Cllr Nigel George, said: “We need to ensure that members of the public are protected from those traders who seek to hide from their legal responsibilities.
“Any residents who believe someone is illegally engaging in unlicensed dog breeding activities, or purporting to be a private seller when they are in fact operating as a business, I would encourage them to contact our Trading Standards team to confidentially report this.”
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that O’Keefe had been fined £150 for each offence.
If you check out ‘Clairants Pups’ – shes still selling dogs to this day – has she now got a license???
this is a exaggerated statement if I may defend myself, I have the full summons her at my home for anyone who would like to view it before slandering me..alot of my adverts were duplicates of the same dog and this is over a 3-4 year period I was unaware at the time I needed a licence and applied for one when I hit 4 litters in 12 mths unfortunately that made them look into me deeper …there is no cruelty charges and my dogs live indoors as part of my family…I am a registered micro chip agent and now have a full breeders licence after all the vet checks were passed..i have admitted my mistakes and paid for them accordingly this has been very stressful for myself and my family I only wish I new I needed a licence and applied for one sooner.
Hello Claire
If you don’t mind, I would like to ask you a couple of questions.
Did the Caerphilly Observer try to contact you in order to get your side of the story?
Did the authorities accept that your mistake was of ignorance rather than malice?
Are you still trading and do you have a license?
Hi no I don’t mind, No I have had no contact with the observer and may I add they have exaggerated a lot, yes accepted as ignorance, and I applied for a licence back in November and it was granted before o went to court.. but of course no mention of that. Yes still trading.
Thanks claire
Pete doing more investigative journalism in 4 minutes than the Observer has done all year.
We all make mistakes Claire, we pay for them and move on.
I wish it was that easy with social media as everyone’s best friend.
But thank you x
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4780238de9f62cdd11a36f635356c44e7c47fcd9be13664d5d0856517670ee3d.jpg
Hello,
The article has now been updated to include the correct details.
We had originally stated the fines were £150 for each charge. However, these were reduced to £100 each because of a guilty plea.
We have also clarified the exact charge under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to reflect that it related to being an unlicensed breeder.
In addition to these changes, we have also included Ms O’Keefe’s mitigation that she was unaware that she needed a licence and that she is now licensed.
The original story was based on a council press release and was published in good faith. That said, we will in future endeavour to check such press releases more thoroughly before publication.
If anyone would like to contact us directly in relation to the reporting of this article, they can email news@caerphillyobserver.co.uk or call 029 21250855.
Richard Gurner
Editor and Publisher
this is appalling fab that you replied…awful that it is at the bottom of the comment page where nobody will take notice…why is the old article still live this is awful, false description !!!!!!!
it was not any where near 100 adverts and there was not several complaints more like 3 unaware I was a trader but at the time I was unaware I would be classed as one also . the adverts that were found were also a lot of duplicates. and no cruelty charges just trading without a licence