An horrific dog abuser has been run out of town by neighbours after they heard screams coming from his “house of horrors”. Steven Brown was spotted in videos posted online with several dogs that seemed to be dead or dying, and filmed attacking small animals at his flat in Ashgill, Lanarkshire. One clip appeared to show an apparently deceased German Shepherd puppy being dragged down stairs by Brown and into his car boot. This was hours after neighbours reportedly heard dogs “screaming”.
The monster has been convicted of two charges relating to serious cruelty against animals after videos were handed to the SSPCA’s Special Investigations Unit. A resulting investigation uncovered an arsenal of improvised, blood-covered weapons that are believed to have been used to hit dogs. The Daily Record reports that angry neighbours gathered outside Brown’s house in June 2023 after the SSPCA and police were called in.
They looked on as officers emerged with a blood-splattered baseball bat and metal pipes.
A dog’s tooth was found in the toilet, and canine blood was found in the bath and floor.
Dog-loving neighbours let it be known to Brown that he was not welcome in the street, and he was driven away in a police car as they jeered.
His former upstairs neighbour, John Greechan, said: “I could hear banging in his flat and I could hear the dogs screaming – not barking, they were making a terrible, heart-rending screaming noise, like they were in a state of terror.
“To me it sounded like he was hitting them with something because there was banging accompanied by terrible sounds.”
He added: “When neighbours were watching the SSPCA coming out of the house we could see them carry a pole that clearly had red blood on it.
“It was bent out of shape too, like it had hit something.
“That didn’t look right and it infuriated people. We didn’t want him on the street – it was him who was the animal.”
The local then said: “It was hard to keep count of the dogs because sometimes there would be more than just his four Chihuahuas. From the comings and goings it was reckoned four dogs had died.
“One of the wee dogs had three legs and he said that it had fallen down the stairs. Who knows what happened to it? I’ve no idea if it’s still alive.”
Brown admitted two charges of inflicting cruelty on animals at Hamilton Sheriff Court in November.
He pleaded guilty to causing suffering to a Chihuahua – now deceased – between April 4 and 5. He dragged the tiny dog on its lead and failed to take it to a vet when it was obviously very ill.
Brown also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to another Chihuahua by kicking it as it entered his flat.
The court accepted a not guilty plea to a charge that Brown mistreated seven dogs – a German shepherd, a French bulldog and five Chihuahuas – subjecting them to fear and distress.
That charge stated that four of the dogs had died by means unknown.
He was given a community payback order, to be completed in two years, and put on an electronic tag for five months.
He was also banned from keeping any animal for five years.