Barking dogs

Sonia Gable | Wednesday, 13 December 2006 Source: Searchlight

Councillors are often called upon to sort out everyday problems, such as nuisance neighbours, but residents of Barking and Dagenham's Valence ward are unlikely to get much help from their elected BNP councillor. At the end of 2004 Sandra Doncaster pleaded guilty at Barking Magistrates' Court of leaving her dogs barking in the house for long periods despite receiving an official council warning. She was fined £200 and ordered to pay £250 costs, and her name was placed on the council's list of nuisance neighbours.

This was not the first time Doncaster, 51, had got into trouble over her dogs. In December 2000 Snaresbrook Crown Court rejected an appeal by her and her husband, Thomas, against an order by Barking Magistrates for the destruction of one of their German Shepherd dogs because it was a danger to the public.

Two of the Doncasters' dogs had roamed the borough for months terrorising cats, brutally killing and mutilating several of them, until the council and police tracked down the owners. One woman was bitten when she tried to rescue a cat that the dogs had been hurling into the air from one mouth to the other. On another occasion a council officer picked up the dogs in a school car park.

The court also upheld the fine of £1,000, compensation of £250 and costs of £3,714 that Barking Magistrates had imposed on the Doncasters.