‘Doctor Death’ dog fighting ring monsters jailed for running brutal blood-sport

Four thugs who ran a deadly dog fighting ring from a garage in Essex have been sentenced – with three of them going to jail.

Self-styled ‘Dr Death’ Phillip Ali trained up the dogs for fighting from the home of couple Billy and Amy Leadley, pumping them with steroids and inflicting gruelling training regimes on the animals. The three, along with Ali’s accomplice Stephen Brown, were sentenced on Monday for animal cruelty charges, after a court heard horrific details of animals being ripped apart in bloody fights.

Ali, 67, was was jailed for five years and Billy Leadley, 38, got four while Brown, 57 was sent behind bars for three years and six months. Amy Leadley, 39, was handed a community order including 200 hours unpaid work and a rehabilitation programme. All four were disqualified from keeping dogs for 10 years.

Appalling footage released after the four’s conviction in April and originally obtained by The Mirror showed the creatures on treadmills before being forced into savaging one another in the seemingly-average home in Takeley, Essex. The couple had claimed the garage was being used for a birthing pit, but blood spatters revealed its macabre use as a dog fighting arena.

The gang then sent out reports following each deadly fight, one of which bragged about a dog biting another “in the throat” and “shaking hard”. Fitness coach Billy Leadley refereed the underground fights from his home, with reports one dog named Bonnie had suffered terrible injuries to her front legs, with her body never found.

RSPCA vets who later inspected the disgusting set-up said how the animals were kept in “filthy” conditions, while the animals were found covered in scars. Jurors at Chelmsford crown court sat through horrifying details in their trial, ultimately finding them guilty of a string of animal cruelty charges.

Ex-convict Ali, who previously served 10 years for the attempted murder of Richard Cabby in 2005, embarked on the sick world of dog fighting after his release. Ali led the UK arm of the gang which operated across Essex and would travel to Ireland and France for fights.

A chilling voice note played to the court during the trial recorded Ali claiming how one dog named Olivia would not have died in the fight had she been given an anti-sickness drug beforehand. He said: “I was telling the boy with Olivia, you’ve got to use a stomach liner, I told everyone to use pepto-bismol no one listened. She lived all that time, then she is throwing up, she is s******g through the eye of an needle because her stomach has all gone ulcerated.”

It was heard how Ali profited thousands from the dog fights, including one match which lined his pockets with £5,000, with multiple dogs suffering catastrophic injuries. Officers who searched Brown’s home in Chigwell, Essex, discovered “vet kits” with syringes, IV fluids, skin staples and surgical blades, as well as books on dog fighting.

The convictions come following a three-year investigation led by the RSPCA, uncovering harrowing videos of dogs covered in blood. Many dogs were also shipped abroad in the sick exploits, but were never returned to the UK.

The dogs fought by the group were mostly banned pitbulls and other bull breeds. RSPCA Special Ops Unit chief inspector Ian Muttitt said the sick sport was the gang’s “hobby”. He added: “These people don’t do it for money, some people go out and play golf on a weekend. These people go out and do this, it’s their passion.”

Ali and Brown, both of Chigwell, Essex and Billy Leadley, of Takeley, Essex, will not be eligible for release until at least half way through their jail sentences.

Following the sentencing there was a foul mouth outburst from members of Ali’s family in the public gallery who shouted “are you alright” before storming out of the court screaming expletives