By Samuel March, Barrister at 9 King’s Bench Walk
“I read a learned article by some lawyer saying we should not bother about pet theft. Well I say to Cruella de Vil QC – if you can steal a dog or a cat then there is frankly no limit to your depravity.” – Boris Johnson
On 06 October 2021 in his keynote speech at the Conservative party conference, the Prime Minister hit out at an article (possibly Mathew Scott’s piece in the Telegraph) which was critical of proposals to create a new criminal offence aimed at tackling what has variously been described as the “theft”, “abduction” or “taking” of companion animals.
Animal abduction is abhorrent. As a practicing criminal barrister, I recently acted in a burglary case where three men forced their way into a residential home, assaulted a homeowner...