A five-strong gang involved in the theft of pedigree French bulldogs together worth at least £15,000l from the home of a Burton breeder have all received jail sentences.

Ten dogs worth around £1,500 each were stolen during two raids on the breeder's home in Horninglow, Burton, in November last year, Stafford Crown Court heard.

The five defendants, who are from the London and Essex areas, had all admitted being involved in stealing the animals.

Two of the men, Elroy Charles, 25, and Jordan Morrison, 24, had also pleaded guilty to being involved in a conspiracy to blackmail the victim.

Charles and Morrison were both jailed for two years. Two other defendants, Kayne Gardner, 28, and Michael Ward, 25, both from London, were each jailed for 12 months for theft.

A fifth man, Desmond Stacey, of Chelmsford, Essex, was given a 12-month sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 125 hours of unpaid work.

The thieves have already seen their sentencing delayed by a court after a judge previously slammed the "clumsy arrangement" for obtaining the exact values for the animals.

Sitting at Stafford Crown Court in July, Recorder Martin Butterworth, was forced to adjourn the sentencing of the men after the prosecution had failed to obtain proof of the value of the dogs.

More recently, prior to sentence Recorder William Edis QC ruled on an issue over the estimated value of the stolen dogs.

Initially it was suggested the animals were worth up to £50,000, and again at around £188,000, but following submissions Recorder Edis said an average value of around £1,500 should be considered for each of the bulldogs.

The court heard that the breeder was 'specifically targeted' when several dogs were taken from the Horninglow address around 9pm on November 7 last year.

In the early hours of the following day the thieves returned and several more dogs were taken.
Later the same day police traced the defendants who were arrested in the Tamworth area and several of the missing dogs were recovered.

The thefts were the subject of a police appeal at the time.

French Bulldogs

The French Bulldog also known as the Frenchie is a small breed of domestic dog. Frenchies were the result in the 1800s of a cross between bulldog ancestors imported from England and local ratters in Paris.

Dog thefts

The bulldogs are not the first in Burton to go missing, having been suspected of being stolen.

One of the area's most famous cases is that of Fennel, a pregnant springer spaniel stolen from an unlocked car parked in Swadlincote. It has been three years since the theft and she is still missing.

The biggest story to make the headlines was border terrier Ginny, from Shobnall, who owners tirelessly searched and appealed to get her home. However, almost a year after she was stolen from outside her house just was found in Doncaster and returned to her very relieved owners.

In 2015, English Bulldog Morris was stolen from his home in Albert Village before being found in Norfolk a week later.

Meanwhile, pug Winston, from Stapenhill, was found in Coventry nine months after he disappeared.

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