Portishead<\/a>, near Bristol, in the autumn of 2023 with two dogs, Iddy and Rocco. The RSPCA began an investigation into her conduct after its inspectors received a series of clips from doorbell camera, showing her with her two dogs.<\/p>\n\u201cThe clips of footage includes Baker screaming and swearing at Rocco, slamming doors, dragging him on a lead,\u201d said an RSPCA spokesperson. \u201cOthers show her kicking at the dog a number of times before slamming the door after which a dog can be heard to vocalise,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The vet who viewed the footage said in a report to magistrates as part of the prosecution: \u201cIn my opinion Rocco has been caused to suffer due to the person responsible for the welfare of this animal behaving in an aggressive, intimidating and physically abusive manner towards this dog. Suffering will have been experienced by this animal via mechanisms of fear, distress and possibly pain for a period of at least several minutes, possibly longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1748367199_394_0_TCBR270525DoorbellBRI_02JPG.jpg\")
A still image from a doorbell camera video that formed the evidence in a prosecution of a dog owner for mistreating their pet. Lauren Leigh Barker was convicted of two counts of mistreating a dog called Rocco, after video of kicking, shouting and dragging Rocco outside her flat in Portishead was shared with the RSPCA(Image: RSPCA)<\/p>\n
Barker, now of Mantle Close in Clevedon, was charged with two offences. The first was that on or before October 4, 2023, she \u2018failed to take such steps\u2026to ensure Rocco and Iddy were\u2026 protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease due to the infliction of physical violence, abusive and intimidatory behaviour\u2019.<\/p>\n
The second was an offence dated on September 3, 2023, alleging that she \u2018caused unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, namely a dog called Rocco, and you knew or ought reasonably to have known that your aggressive and intimidatory behaviour would have that effect or be likely to do so\u2019.<\/p>\n
She pleaded not guilty, but after a trial, magistrates found her guilty of both charges, gave her a suspended jail sentence and banned her from keeping animals for five years.<\/p>\n
She was also give a requirement to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation activity, and pay \u00a3500 in costs.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_TCBR270525DoorbellBRIJPG.jpg\")
A still image from a doorbell camera video that formed the evidence in a prosecution of a dog owner for mistreating their pet. Lauren Leigh Barker was convicted of two counts of mistreating a dog called Rocco, after video of kicking, shouting and dragging Rocco outside her flat in Portishead was shared with the RSPCA(Image: RSPCA)<\/p>\n
The RSPCA said it challenged Barker\u2019s defence that Rocco was aggressive. \u201cBehavioral assessments were carried out on Rocco while he was being cared for by a team at an RSPCA rescue centre,\u201d a spokesperson said. \u201cHe was found to behave favourably in a range of situations, including being tolerant of vets who were able to carry out checks without any issues or the need for additional restraint, making him suitable for rehoming,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
RSPCA Inspector Kim Walters, who investigated for the charity, said they were thankful the doorbell video was sent to them. \u201cWe\u2019re extremely grateful when people report animal welfare concerns to us and share any evidence they have that can help our investigations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She dragged, kicked and screamed at her dogA still image from a doorbell camera video that formed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[933,381,748,955,30,188,393,4884,956,11945,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-136477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-clevedon","12":"tag-courts","13":"tag-crime","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-north-somerset","17":"tag-portishead","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114580999709561918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_TCBR270525DoorbellBRI_02JPG.jpg\")
A still image from a doorbell camera video that formed the evidence in the prosecution(Image: RSPCA)<\/p>\n