Sally Knight-Buxton was watching telly at 10:40 pm last Friday with her mum at her home in Basildon, Essex, UK. Her three English Bulldog puppies were with her in the home. She was about to put them to bed having just fed them. Her children had gone to bed.
Her peace and quiet was shattered when a masked and armed (an ammonia spray of some sort) gang smashed through her back door. They demanded that she hand over her three adorable puppies. She jumped up in horror. They squirted her and her mother with the liquid which caused her eyes to water. They threw her mother to the floor and punched her in the face. They then grabbed the puppies and left the home while her children ran down the stairs crying and screaming.
Sally is heartbroken because her “babies” are gone to where and to what fate? She is appealing to the public on social media. She wants her babies back and the scumbags caught (as she describes them). She says that they have terrorised her and her family and she is now scared as are her children to stay in their own home. Her kids are asking when they are coming back.
She has a rather vague description of the men which may help. One is described as of Asian or Mediterranean heritage wearing tracksuit trousers. Another is said to be of large build with dark hair and about 6 feet tall. He is thought to be in his thirties or forties. As for the vehicles they are said to be a dark coloured estate car, a dark coloured hatchback or a white transit-type van. If you can help you should call 101 and quote the crime reference number: 42/1771171/20.
The price of English Bulldog puppies varies between £1000 to over £3000 depending upon the quality. Let’s say that they are very expensive and therefore three puppies might be valued at about £10,000. From a criminal’s standpoint it was a successful armed burglary (aggravated burglary). The maximum sentence for aggravated burglary on conviction in the UK is life imprisonment believe it or not. This long, potential sentence exists because sometimes armed burglary is incredibly violent with the victim either being killed or seriously injured with either a knife or a bullet. In this instance, if they are caught and we all hope that they are, I would expect them to be imprisoned for something in the order of about two years.
