Anthony Holloway, 28, of Dumbarton, has been found guilty at Dumbarton Sheriff Court of training his dogs for the purpose of animal fighting and also convicted of supplying videos of animal fighting. The case was brought after an operation by the Scottish SPCA Special Investigations Unit.

In October 2019 Holloway and an associate were stopped by undercover SSPCA inspectors at Cairnryan ferry terminal in Dumfries and Galloway when returning from a badger baiting trip. They had five terrier dogs with them. All the dogs were found with scars and one had fresh wounds. After examination an expert vet determined that all of the dogs had injuries consistent with being used repeatedly to fight animals, predominately badgers.

In his defence Holloway claimed that he sometimes killed foxes and badgers with his specially trained dogs as part of his job as a pest controller. The prosecution described this claim as nonsense, as killing animals with dogs is illegal in Scotland. The court was shown a series of films and still pictures from Holloway’s mobile ‘phone that showed him digging badger setts and holding up a dead fox which had its jaw ripped off. In one still photograph a young boy in glasses grins as he holds up a dead fox. The court was told that Holloway had even built an artificial badger sett to allow pups to practise killing animals.

In spite of warning Holloway that he could face prison Sheriff William Gallacher gave him a 270-hour community payback order and banned him from owning dogs for just four years. A request from prosecutors for a lifetime ban was rejected after defence lawyer Judith Reid said that such a ban would have a serious effect on Holloway’s income.

Holloway has a substantial history of violent offending and it is concerning that what many would regard as a ‘light’ sentence was passed. More concerning however is that this brutal sadist will be able to own dogs again after just four years.

Once again we see a case in which children and dog fighting feature and once again we are left stunned by the leniency of the sentence. The only good aspect to this story is that it is another success for the SSPCA’s undercover Special Investigations Unit who have considerable success with these difficult cases.

Further details on the story are available from the Daily Record