A Cumbrian woman has won a case against police after her dog was wrongly seized.
Cassey Johnston, 32, from Parton, faced a nine-month ordeal to get her seven-year-old rescue dog Mack back and living without restrictions after he was wrongly labelled as a banned breed.
The Staffordshire bull terrier was seized by police in February after officers received a report that he was a ‘pitbull-type’ dog.
Pitbull terriers can be legally seized and put down under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Cassey said: “When they took him I was in tears, I was absolutely beside myself. He’s such a soft dog, he’s scared of wind and rain and he is really well natured and he doesn’t even bark.
“They did a 20-minute assessment on Mack where they tick boxes against a set of criteria and afterwards they called for a van to come get him.
“The police didn’t advise me on anything, they just explained that if I disagreed and went to court then they would look to prosecute me and it would take me longer to get him back. But if I did agree with them it would be dealt with civilly and I would have my dog back within two weeks.”
Mack was held in police kennels for over two months. He was then released under the Interim Exemption Scheme, which allows well behaved dogs to return home before owners go to court.
The scheme comes with a list of restrictions including a mandatory muzzle and lead requirement in public spaces at all times.
Determined to give Mack his normal life back, Cassey turned to Rocky’s Army – a support group that helps people whose dogs have been seized by police.
With their help Cassey was able to disagree with the assessment that Mack was a banned breed and bring the case to court where it was found Mack did not meet enough of the listed characteristics to be a pitbull-type dog.
Cassey said: “I just thought he didn’t deserve to be in a muzzle for the rest of his life. He’s never done anything wrong, I didn’t want him to never run freely on the beach again.
“Rocky’s Army got me in touch with Michael Barnett, who’s the top dog assessor in the UK, and he did his own assessment on Mack in police kennels and he immediately disagreed with the assessment carried out by Cumbria police.
“It was proved in court that Cumbria police’s assessment was not fit for purpose. It’s clear that they need more training or information to be able to do this because they’re ripping people’s families apart on legislation that’s been around since 1991 that they don’t seem to know enough about.
“The thing that kept me motivated was how angry I was at how much unnecessary trauma they caused my little boy Ryan Jnr. He was crying through nights and wouldn’t sleep for months on end – how do you explain to a five year old that someone has incorrectly seized your dog?”
Cassey added that it cost her over £4,000 to get her own solicitor and dog assessor with some help coming from online fundraising.
She said: “It’s a financial burden but someone’s got to stand up so it doesn’t keep happening. Especially with the new XL Bully legislation coming in, if the 1991 legislation is causing problems then how bad will it with the new laws in place?
“The court costs were well over £3,400 for what the police wanted me to pay if I lost the case, so it’s a lot of taxpayers money wasted. It should have been left when I brought my dog assessor in.
“But the moment I left court we got the muzzle out of the house straight away, we never want to see it again. It’s been awful, I’ve never had any police involvement in my life.”
A spokesman for Cumbria police said: “Cumbria police were made aware of a dog of a possible banned breed living at an address in Whitehaven in February 2023.
“The dog, Mack, was examined by one of the constabulary’s dog legislation officers, who confirmed it had substantial characteristics of a pitbull-type and was therefore suspected to be a banned breed.
“The dog was seized, but, utilising the Interim Exemption Scheme, was returned to the owner under certain conditions, pending the final hearing.
“On November 8, the court decided that Mack is not a banned breed and therefore the conditions imposed as part of the Interim Exemption Scheme ceased to have effect.
“Our priority is to keep the people of Cumbria safe, and any reports such as this will always be fully investigated. We respect the court’s decision in this case that Mack is not a banned breed.”
