On Thursday, 19 July, the Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP will appeal the sentences of a gang of puppy farmers who were convicted earlier this year.
Simon O’Donnell, Thomas Stokes, Edward Stokes, and Daniel Doherty were part of a puppy-farming conspiracy thought to have raised around £2.5 million. O’Donnell, Thomas Stokes and Edward Stokes were involved in importing farmed puppies from abroad.
Daniel Doherty, a vet who practised in West London, provided them with misleading welfare documents, including immunisation certificates, which were used to reassure the people who bought the puppies.
O’Donnell, Doherty, and Thomas Stokes were originally sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court in May, Edward Stokes in June. O’Donnell and Thomas Stokes both received 3 years’ imprisonment.
Edward Stokes received 2 years’ imprisonment suspended for two years, as well as conditions of 200 hours unpaid work and 15 days rehabilitation activity.
Doherty received 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months, as well as a requirement of 80 hours unpaid work.
The Solicitor will personally argue that their sentences are unduly lenient at the Court of Appeal.