Pet cremation case - woman jailed
A woman who ran an illegal pet cremation business in Derbyshire has been jailed.Emma Bent, who ran Peak Pet Cremations, had previously pleaded guilty to 13 charges brought by Derbyshire County Council under the Animal By-Product Regulations 2005.
She had also pleaded guilty to charges brought by Derbyshire Police and the Environment Agency. She was sentenced at Derby Crown Court to a total of eight months in prison on Wednesday 2 February.
Derbyshire County Council's trading standards began investigating Bent − who ran her company from her former home in Heage − following the discovery of animal carcasses in a field in August 2009.
She had a contract with Ambivet, a local veterinary group, to collect and dispose of clinical waste and pet carcasses. She also offered an individual pet cremation service.
She invoiced Ambivet more than £91,000 between November 2006 and August 2009 for this service and disposed of 2,838 pet carcasses, the court heard.
But the court was told Bent was acting illegally as she was not authorised by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs to store and dispose of the waste or operate in incinerator.
In December Bent pleaded guilty to charges brought by the county council. They were:
− Failing to maintain appropriate records for receipt, transport and consigning of category 1 animal by-products
− Failing to identify containers used to transport category 1 animal by-products
− Failing to complete commercial documents during the transportation of category 1 animal by-products
− Allowing livestock to have access to category 1 animal by-products
− Two charges of bringing category 1 animal by-products on to premises where livestock are kept
− Three charges of failing to collect, transport, identify and dispose of category 1 animal by-products without undue delay
− Two charges of operating a non-approved incineration plant
− Two charges of operating a non-approved storage facility
She was jailed for eight months for the fraud charges and four months each for those brought by Derbyshire County Council and the Environment Agency. These are to run concurrently.
Councillor Carol Hart, the county council's Cabinet Member for Communities, said: "We are pleased with the outcome of this unpleasant case which has taken many months of investigation by our trading standards officers.
"We will not hesitate to prosecute those who flout the law and who target people while they are at their most vulnerable."