Judge orders Labour donor’s dogs destroyed after attack on jogger

A millionaire Labour donor faces having three Turkish Kangal dogs destroyed after a rampage in which they killed other animals and savaged a jogger.

The dogs escaped from a compound at a farm owned by Anwar Ansari, Willesden magistrates’ court in London was told.

They broke down an electric fence to enter the garden of the neighbouring Payne-James family in Croydon, south London. The parents and young children watched in terror as the dogs tore apart their three chickens.

Deone Payne-James, a psychotherapist, told the court in a statement that she had watched the “three giant dogs barking and attacking the chicken coop” in July 2023. “The traumatic events have left me feeling depressed, scared and paranoid at times,” she said. “I now live in a state of hyper-vigilance and fear, I am now anxious when I’m outside and no longer enjoy gardening.”

The Kangal dogs escaped into Lloyd Park where they tried to attack a dog named Ziggy owned by Neil O’Rourke, who was jogging. The owner threw himself over Ziggy to protect it and was repeatedly bitten on the face. O’Rourke said in a statement: “The three dogs kept chasing, it appeared they were hunting like a pack. They ran over and jumped on top of Ziggy, they bit me several times on the hand, face and neck.”

Ansari, 67, had signed an “acceptable behaviour contract” about his pets two months before the incident. The Kangals had also escaped their enclosure in March that year. Ansar, who had denied the charges, was convicted in November of three counts of owning a dog dangerously out of control causing injury and three counts of owning a dog dangerously out of control not causing an injury,

The millionaire businessman and his companies have donated more than £50,000 to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, almost £20,000 to Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and greater sums to the local and national Labour parties. Ansari trained as an eye surgeon before becoming a property developer.

Azra Khan, representing Ansari, told the court: “He is very unhappy about the fact the dogs escaped and very, very uncomfortable — he is very remorseful that they escaped.” She suggested the Payne-James’s family “banging on the windows from inside [their home] possibly made the dogs more agitated”. Khan added: “These are more or less gentle dogs and obviously something has gone wrong on that particular day.”

District Judge Mark Jabbitt said: “The bottom line is that Dr Ansari was ultimately responsible for these three large dogs who were not trained, not kept as guard dogs, he did not heed previous warnings — they weren’t kept securely.”

He was fined £1,000 for each offence of the dogs causing injury and £500 for each offence not involving injury. He was ordered to pay £10,000 compensation to O’Rourke and a total of £3,000 to the Payne-James’ family. He must also pay £53,000 in costs, £1,800 surcharge and is disqualified from owning a dog for ten years.

The judge ordered the destruction of the dogs saying they were “a danger to the public”.

Ansaris, who lives on a sprawling estate near Caterham, Surrey, said he would appeal against his conviction, sentence and disqualification from owning dogs.

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