A Barnsley Animal Abuser, Ben Bates, has been sentenced to incarceration for subjecting animals to abuse by commanding his dogs to assault them. As there is a direct correlation between animal and child abuse the Barnsley Animal Abuser should be supervised in the future.
Nonce Ben Bates inflicted egregious maltreatment on deer, cats, and wild birds, documenting the acts and bragging about his offences on social media.
The videos prompted an inquiry by the Naturewatch Foundation, and an intelligence dossier was provided to our Motorcycle and Rural Crime Team for additional investigation.
Following the examination of the distressing photographs and footage, investigators executed a warrant at Ben Bates’ residence in May 2024. Bates’ phone was confiscated, revealing numerous photographs and videos depicting animal violations, including a dog named ‘Billy’ and other dogs assaulting various cats, deer, and hares on agricultural land. Following a digital forensic assessment, it was determined that the majority of these crimes occurred in the South Elmsall region of West Yorkshire.
During the warrant, three canines were confiscated, relinquished to the authorities, and will be re-homed, along with various hunting-related goods, including stolen ‘no poaching’ signs from adjacent agricultural land.
PS James Shirley, from our Motorcycle and Rural Crime Team, said:
“We take crimes against our rural communities extremely seriously, and are working with those in these communities to build more intelligence and gather information so we can continue to bring people before the courts.
“Recently, we have doubled our investment in training of officers in rural crime offences, and now have an officer trained in every neighbourhood policing team across the force.
“In cases like these, animals are subjected to the most horrific abuse, but local farmers are also effected. They land and crops often get damaged as well as their livestock.
“The Barnsley North East NPT coordinated the investigation, pulling experts in from the RSPCA Special Ops team, the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and our dog liaison team. The investigation was a joint effort over many months and we hope this will send a clear message of our stance on those who take part in animal cruelty.”
Ben Bates, 20, of Darfield Road, Barnsley, appeared before Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on 24 February and pleaded guilty to theft, kill a deer at night, causing an animal fight to take place, causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and killing a wild bird.
Chief Inspector Kevin Lacks-Kelly, head of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit, says:
“I welcome the sentence of Ben Bates, quite simply, no animal is safe around him.
The level of cruelty and suffering he has inflicted for gratification is deeply disturbing, I am sure the public with be quite rightly shocked by this case.
“I would like to thank South Yorkshire Police for a thorough investigation that has taken this animal abuser off the streets.”
Ben Bates appeared before Sheffield Crown Court on Monday (30 June), and was sentenced to 20 months in prison for unnecessary suffering of a deer, unnecessary suffering of a cat, causing an animal fight, theft, killing a wild bird, killing a deer, taking a deer and use of improper use of electronic communications.
The judge also ordered him a disqualification order, meaning Bates can have nothing to do with animals for a minimum period of 12 years. A seizure order way also placed again the dog ‘Billy’.
If anyone has information about illegal hunting, please do report it to us either through your local neighbourhood policing team or through the Motor Cycle and Rural Crime Team. Alternatively, you can report anonymously through Crimestoppers via their website here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/
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