A puppy farming gang has been jailed after selling sick puppies to unsuspecting members of the public and pocketing more than £500,000 for the scam.

Five people from Gravesham have been sentenced after 30 dogs were found in poor conditions and three puppies all died within four days of being purchased.

Defendants Wally Beaney, Louise Smith and Maria Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and animal welfare offences, Charlotte Byron pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and Debbie Lampard admitted an offence of selling puppies without a licence, at various earlier dates at Woolwich Crown Court.

They were all sentenced on Thursday, 25 January, at Woolwich Crown Court.

Beaney, 39, of Beechwood Gardens, Meopham, was sentenced to four and a half years immediate custody and a 10-year ban on keeping dogs after pleading guilty to four offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, as well as one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Louise Smith, 64, of the same address, was sentenced to two years and four months custody, and disqualified from keeping dogs for five years after pleading guilty to one offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, as well as one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Maria Smith, 35, of the same address, was sentenced to two years and four months custody, and disqualified from keeping dogs for five years, after pleading guilty to two offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, as well as one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud.

Byron, 36, of Longfield Road, Meopham was sentenced to two years and three months custody after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit fraud.

They were all ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £228.

Lampard, 60, of High View, Vigo was sentenced to an 18-month conditional discharge, after pleading guilty to selling puppies without a licence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £26.

The court heard the RSPCA was contacted by numerous concerned people who had bought puppies from the group.

In some cases, the young dogs had been poorly with parvovirus - a highly contagious and often fatal illness - and had died within days of being taken to their new homes.

The RSPCA investigated and, during a warrant with Kent Police in September 2021, searched two properties in Beechwood Gardens - where 30 dogs were removed - and one in Longfield Road.

At both Beechwood Gardens properties, several dogs were found in poor conditions, described by a vet as “dark and smelly”, where light and heat lamps weren’t turned on, pens were soiled with urine and faeces and no food was available.

Three puppies needed urgent veterinary attention.

A mobile phone was found on the road outside one of the properties and appeared to have been recently discarded.

Data on the phone related to sales of puppies in late 2020 and early 2021 which was linked to Louise Smith and one of the Beechwood Gardens properties.

At the second Beechwood Gardens property, dogs were found outside in wooden sheds.

Inside were five dogs - a shih tzu and a bichon frise, a cavalier King Charles spaniel and two Yorkshire terriers - who had matted fur, skin and dental diseases.

A vet at the scene assessed all of these dogs had been suffering from neglect.

Other adult dogs at the property also had matted fur and coats that were urine and faecal-stained.

One of these was heavily pregnant and also had mild conjunctivitis and some dental disease, another pregnant dog was in a similar condition and a further dog in a similar condition also tested positive for giardia, a parasite that can cause diarrhoea.

RSPCA inspector Vikki Dawe, part of the charity’s Special Operations Unit which investigates organised crime such as puppy farming, said: “These dogs were all being kept in horrible conditions with very poor care which did not remotely reflect the expectations of buyers who saw the adverts placed for them.”

Several phones were seized during the warrants, containing inquiries from people who had got in touch inquiring about purchasing puppies.

During its investigations, the RSPCA discovered Beaney had been purchasing large quantities of puppies of various breeds from a variety of different sources, including from Wales.

Messages on his seized phone showed that he travelled to Wales to collect puppies, with one message saying: “Bought 20 last week, sold about four, I’m sweating.

“I got cockapoo westies and some other crosses, been slow this week… could do with going back into a good four-month lockdown.”

Inspector Dawe said: “The defendants conspired together to acquire and sell puppies through advertising them in such a way as to entice the potential purchaser into coming to see the puppy, where they inevitably want to purchase it regardless of any warning bells.

“They advertised the puppies under different aliases and as a ‘private’ seller, making it appear as if the puppy had been bred from a family pet and not from somewhere unknown or farmed.

“The puppies were then sold from the defendants’ home addresses and buyers were told that they had been bred from the family pet and were being sold from family homes.”

The court heard the RSPCA had been made aware of three golden retriever puppies, all purchased from Byron’s address in Longfield Road, Meopham, in July 2021.

The puppies were aged about eight weeks old and were from the same litter.

All died within four days of being purchased.

One of the puppies was collected by his new owner at midday on July 17, 2021 - and died at 4.45pm after being “quiet yet restless” and showing signs of dehydration.

A prospective buyer gave a witness statement confirming she had visited the puppies on July 14, 2021 intending to buy one.

However, she received a message just days later saying that the puppy she was hoping to purchase had died from suspected parvovirus.

The message was sent on July 17, 2021, the same day after two of the other puppies - who later died - had been collected by their new owners.

A vet who examined the case said in a statement, which was presented to court: “This suggests that the seller knew a litter mate was sick at the time of their sale.

“Yet the other puppy purchasers were not notified, either at purchase that a litter mate was unwell or that a litter mate became unwell.

“It is my opinion that the seller failed to protect the three pups discussed in this report by not sharing with the new owners that he had detected signs of disease in another litter mate.

“These pups were likely to suffer as the longer the interval between acquiring the disease and seeking veterinary intervention, the greater the morbidity or risk of mortality becomes.

“By informing the purchasers as soon as a litter mate became ill, not only could there have been a different outcome for these pups had they received rapid veterinary attention, but also their suffering could have been reduced.”

The vet added that the test results from the puppies suggested that the litter were infected with the same bug.

They said: “The fact that three of the puppies from the same litter all died in such a short time frame, with one puppy confirmed to have had parvovirus, is highly suggestive this was the cause of death in all the pups.”

Following the sentencing, Inspector Dawe said: “This was a long and complex investigation and we are grateful to everyone who co-operated.

“A particular thanks must go to Kent Police Rural Task Force for their assistance in working alongside the RSPCA investigating animal cruelty.

“Puppy farming has upsetting consequences for the puppy’s owners and the puppies themselves.

“We'd always encourage anyone thinking of getting a puppy to adopt rather than buy, and to do lots of research first to ensure they source a dog responsibly.”

All of the dogs who were removed during the search warrants were signed over to RSPCA care and have all since been rehomed.

Sergeant Darren Walshaw, of Kent Police’s Rural Task Force, said: “Those convicted reaped considerable financial benefit by repeatedly breeding dogs, all the while failing to provide the animals and their puppies with appropriate medical care, such as worming medication and inoculations.

“They demonstrated cruelty and neglectful behaviour that ultimately led to numerous animals losing their lives unnecessarily.

“A robust combination of custodial sentences and bans means the offenders will be unable to inflict any more harm on animals.”