Dog sitter secretly filmed by her ex-husband hitting and kicking customers’ pets

A professional dog sitter who was secretly filmed by her ex-husband abusing her customer’s pets has been banned from keeping animals for life.  

Former charity fundraiser Amanda Le Bretton, 55, was seen on spy cameras hitting the dogs, kicking one, and grasping a chihuahua by the scruff of its neck while its owners were on holiday.

The abusive dog sitter was exposed after her former husband Stephen, a catering manager, whom she accused of alcoholism and domestic abuse, collated the footage and distributed the videos on Facebook using his middle name Peter when he discovered she was getting married again.

He had installed the cameras around the premises without her knowledge while the warring couple were forced to live with each other during lockdown.

Le Bretton’s defence said the actions were ‘out of character’ and a result of the stress of her living situation as she pleaded guilty to four counts of four charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal at Chester Magistrate’s Court.

Each charge related to a separate video footage taken November 5, 2020, December 8, 2020, and October 16, 2021. 

The first video showed Le Bretton grasping a white poodle around the neck and hitting it with her hand. In the second she can be heard shouting, ‘Behave’ as she kicked a white Westie, thought to be called Alfie, causing the dog to yelp. 

In the third, another poodle called Ringo was smacked by Le Bretton who then pushed her knee into the dog’s side whilst saying, ‘Naughty boy Ringo.’ 

In the fourth, the chihuahua called Lulu was picked up by the scruff of the neck causing the dog to squeal repeatedly.

The total length of the footage which was played in court was around one minute. Mr Le Bretton was not in court. 

The ensuing furore led to Le Bretton getting death threats, having to issue grovelling apologies to her customers then losing her trading licence at her Homes from Home Dog Retreat in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. 

She has since quit Britain altogether for a new life in Thailand.

Ian Moore, prosecuting for Cheshire West and Chester council, said the investigation began after the authority was sent an email with the four videos on May 31, 2022.

‘During the time of the offences she held a license issued by local authority Cheshire West Council permitting her to look after dogs for clients who went on holiday otherwise known as home boarding or temporary dog care.

‘On May 31 Cheshire West Council received an email containing secure camera videos. The footage contained dogs in care of the defendant. 

‘They were emailed from a person purporting to be called Peter. Numerous attempts were made by the council to contact Peter with a view to a statement being taken. Peter failed to respond.

‘An investigation began and the local authority took the opinion of a vet about the conduct of the defendant as shown in the video. The video was viewed by a vet from the Rose Cottage Centre in Runcorn for her opinion as to how the dogs were treated by the defendant.’

‘The vet concluded, “In my opinion the behaviour exhibited in those videos by the license holder is not appropriate for a person taking care of other people’s dogs as a home boarder. The video clips evidenced pain and distress when the dogs yelped.

‘”The license holder’s actions definitely caused anxiety and compromised the mental welfare of the dogs in her care.”

‘On August 22, 2022 the defendant attended an interview under caution with the local authority where she gave a written prepared statement. In essence, the defendant said that she admitted being the person shown in the video and she was remorseful for her actions.

‘She explained that she had apologised to the owners of the dogs. She explained that she has acted of character. She also went on to say she had no intention of resuming her business as a dog carer. The defendant’s license to board dogs was ultimately revoked by the Cheshire West Council.’

In mitigation for Le Bretton, defence lawyer Stephen Ferns said his client had been under stress due to being in an abusive relationship at the time and feeling trapped at home due to the pandemic. 

He confirmed that the videos were released by Mr Le Bretton when he found out she was getting remarried.

‘One video was of a Chihuahua called Lulu, which had stayed with her on many occasions and who slept with her on that night, with other dogs as well,’ said Mr Ferns.

‘The owner even invited my client for a meal for caring for her dog. She has since offered her apologies to the dog’s owners. The second video is of Ringo and it was during the third lockdown. At the time my client was unable to stay with her parents due to the Covid situation and she had to live with her ex-husband and was subject to significant domestic abuse. He was refusing to divorce her.

‘Ringo was a neighbour’s dog and she had known the neighbours for many years. The neighbours have been supportive, particularly after making an apology. It broke her heart to see her actions on the video footage. She loves all the dogs and is very embarrassed and ashamed of what she has done.

‘The owners have responded by text message saying that they understand the situation that she was going through. 

‘Mrs Le Bretton said that dogs are the best judge of character. Dogs would get remarkably excited when they arrived at her property even if they were just passing the dogs would get very animated. She was told this by the owners of the various animals.

‘The owners repeatedly kept animals in her care. As a result, this behaviour was very much out of character.’

Mr Ferns said his client claimed that Mr Le Bretton had ‘rampant alcoholism’ and had almost lost his life as a result and she felt that she had to stay with him to support him through that time. 

He went on: ‘She was in a very difficult situation. She has made complaints to police about his actions. She felt trapped in the marriage and in August 2020 was finally able to break free from that.’

‘She has met somebody else and married that person. But the videos were then released by her ex-husband. Those videos came from someone purporting to be Peter. The email’s automatic attribution shows that it does come from him, Stephen Peter Le Bretton. Perhaps he was using his middle name, Peter.

‘He sent these videos from footage that has come from in the house and also some secret camera Mrs Le Bretton was not aware of. He has accessed the videos at the home illegally, particularly after the marriage was dissolved. After finding out that she was getting married, he has released them on Facebook.

‘Upon being released on Facebook she was subject to threats against her life. People came to her address, accosted her in the street. She had text messages threatening her life. 

‘One gentleman turned up with what she believed to be a knife. She had to call the police to try and remove this gentleman.’

Mr Ferns said Le Bretton and her mother’s address were on ‘high alert’ with the police following the incident.  

Mr Ferns said that Le Bretton’s current husband had found the difficulties arising from the case intolerable, having also been abused himself, and had returned to Thailand where he had lived before. He said that his client had also moved to Thailand to try and ‘rescue’ their marriage.

‘She feels her life has effectively been destroyed,’ Mr Ferns said, ‘She accepted her actions which were committed in the context of abuse in marriage, lockdown and being cooped up in the house with her husband. She has to leave to try and rescue her marriage. It means that she has to be away from her mother and father and is not able to check on them daily.

‘She has lost a lot of friends as a result of this, judging her by what they have seen and effectively calling time on life-long friendships. Her business was already gone. She is never going to be able to return to the business of working with animals again.

‘She has sold her home because of people knowing her address and going to seek her out there. As a result, she is suffering from anxiety and depression and has had to be heavily medicated. I ask that you take all that into account.’

Le Bretton was also fined £3,000, and made to pay £1,423 in council costs and victim surcharge. 

JP Mark Johns told her that it would be easier for the court to accept a temporary lack of control but her actions constituted a ‘breach of trust’. 

‘Animals have no voice, they rely on their owners or in this case on the person who is entrusted with their care to treat them with compassion and patience.

‘In your favour, you are a person of good character and you have expressed much remorse and sorrow for your actions. 

‘But you must realise your reputation is shattered. Your reputation has gone. You realise you have no future in the care of animals.’

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk