Keeper of outlawed dogs spared jail
A man who kept an illegal Japanese fighting dog along with two banned pitbull terriers at his Black Country home has been spared jail.
Qamar Shamim was given a 20-week prison term, suspended for 12 months, after admitting three counts of keeping breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
One of the animals was an 11-stone Japanese tosa, the first of its kind seized in the country since the legislation came into force 18 years ago.
Shamim, of Edgbaston Road, Smethwick, was also ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £3,300, including £3,000 towards kennelling costs for the animals since they were seized last December.
The two pitbulls will now be destroyed while the tosa will be kept by police to help identify similar dogs in the future. Warley Magistrates yesterday also banned Shamim from keeping animals for 10 years.
The 31-year-old had originally denied the charges but changed his plea after an independent report commissioned by his legal teams confirmed the three dogs were all illegal breeds, banned since 1991.
Mr Shabeer Qureshi, defending, said Shamim was looking after the dogs for others and was not aware they were illegal breeds.
