PEDIGREE CHUMPS

Duped buyers didn't see the awful conditions around the back with dogs living in misery

- MARK McGIVERN

A VICTIM of a millionaire couple who led one of Scotland's most notorious puppy farming operations has hit out after they avoided jail.

Stephen and Hazel Hamilton were sentenced yesterday for neglecting dogs at their unlicensed breeding facility in Ayrshire while raking in a fortune selling them on to unwitting families.

A sheriff instead ordered them to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and banned them from owning or keeping any animals other than their family dog for five years.

One victim later told the Record they were appalled by the leniency of the sentence.

The victim, who bought a Yorkshire terrier from the Hamiltons which died five days later, said: “They should be in jail. They have made a fortune from other people’s misery.”

She told how pups were being presented for sale at the front of their posh farmhouse home, with buyers unaware they had a major puppy farm at the back.

The woman said: “The puppy had a health certificate signed by a vet but she was very ill with parvovirus.

“I had hoped it would be a companion for my other wee Yorkie but in the end, we were lucky the parvo didn't spread to her too.”

The victim said her father had gone to confront Stephen Hamilton - and walked into a scene “like hell”.

She said: “He ended up just wandering round the back as no one answered the front door. He looked around and saw these buildings with loads of kennels in, which looked horrible and dingy and crushed together.

“He said it was like hell for any pup to be produced there and a million miles from buying a pup from a loving home.”