Pet owner Samantha Kane found herself in the doghouse with neighbours over her noisy animals.

The 33-year-old care home manager was convicted in her absence of breaching a noise abatement notice – and handed a £6,000 bill.

Now she has lost her appeal against all but one of the offences but managed to persuade a judge to slash her fines, compensation and costs to £4,470.

Mrs Kane, of Firs Lane, Cheriton, had received a notice from Shepway District Council over the noise made by her two weimeraner hunting dogs, Chilli and Effie.

Neighbour Evelyn Craig began keeping a ‘noise diary’ after the dog owner received a 24-month conditional discharge for 11 earlier offences.

“We found Mrs Craig to have been fundamentally an honest witness and she did not come to court to give self-serving evidence to implicate the appellant’s dogs” - Judge Simon James

Dean Thistle, for the council, said an official went to Mrs Kane’s home on three occasions between June and September last year and videoed the dogs barking.

Mrs Kane was summoned again to the magistrates and convicted in her absence of 14 more offences. She claimed she didn’t receive the letter.

She also didn’t show up when magistrates slapped £200 fines on all 25 charges, ordered her to pay Mrs Craig £700 in compensation and stump up £170 in costs and victim surcharge, plus £1,000 costs from the first hearing.

But now a judge at Canterbury Crown Court ruled that unfair and reduced the fines to £2,600.

Mrs Kane had told the court how she had taken steps to reduce the noise including buying special dog collars, changing the dog food, taking the pets to obedience training and soundproofing the garage.

Judge Simon James said it was clear that Mrs Kane was “a loving and caring owner” who had put in place, at some not inconsiderable cost to herself, sensible precautions to avoid the dog causing a nuisance.

But he said Mrs Craig heard the dogs barking “continuously and at loud volume” on various dates between April and September last year.

Mrs Kane claimed that there were other barking dogs in the area but Mrs Craig told the
hearing she was sure the noise came from her neighbour’s animals.

The judge said: “We found Mrs Craig to have been fundamentally an honest witness and she did not come to court to give self-serving evidence to implicate the appellant’s dogs.”

He added that it was now accepted that since last September the situation between the neighbours had improved.

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