Senior Solicitor
Toffee the dachshund owners acquitted
CCC v T
The case centred around a dachshund, Toffee, who resided in Cambridge. An abatement notice was issued in 2015, and Toffee’s owners sought and received advice from the dog warden and installed all the recommendations. However, on two occasions in 2017 dog barking was recorded by officers. The defendants were informed that they would be prosecuted as a result.
Richard Buxton Solicitors were instructed by Toffee’s owners, and as there was real concern regarding the impending prosecution, recommended if there was a more suitable home for Toffee that this could be a simple way of resolving the issue. The family therefore made the difficult decision to send Toffee to live permanently with family in Poland. Despite the dog no longer being in the country, the Council laid the information with the Court and continued the prosecution.
For the defence, four neighbours gave evidence confirming that they were close neighbours and had never heard Toffee barking and there was no interference with the enjoyment of their home. The magistrates found as fact that neither officer saw Toffee barking, nor that Toffee was the dog barking on two occasions. They therefore concluded that there was no regular or even occasional nuisance from the barking of a dog belonging to Toffee’s owners. Toffee’s owners were therefore acquitted.
However, and unfortunately, the Council sought that the Magistrates provide a case stated, and then sought to appeal to the High Court by way of case stated. The Council made several fundamental procedural errors in this process, which were criticised by the High Court when they sought to extend time to make their appeal. As set out by the Judge:
‘the facts underlying this application for an extension of time for filing an appellant’s notice of appeal by way of case state would be funny for some if they did not involve the expenditure of public funds. They are correctly described by the respondent as “somewhat unreal”.
The Council were denied their application to extend time and the Court awarded most of our client’s cost in relation to the application.
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Commentary
Barking dogs are problematic, however in there is a distinction between dog barking that becomes a nuisance and the natural behaviour of dogs where the owners have taken efforts to control the behaviour. There needs to be some give and take. Although ultimately a good outcome, this is an example of when things can go wrong, and no one wins, particularly where a practical solution is offered at a very early stage. As this case played out following the Brexit referendum result, a conviction could have been highly problematic for our clients who were not UK citizens and would have had to declare on any future residency application, as was made clear to the Council when they continued with the prosecution.