A shaggy dog story: how a teenage animal rights extremist cheated supporters, duped celebrities and destroyed innocent lives
Jacob Lloyd began his career sabbing hunts and escalated it to prosecution cons with the help of a dodgy law firm. How did he manage to do it for so long?
*This article was republished on Country Squire under the title: Yet Another Animal Rights Scammer Exposed
"It beggars belief that they actually have the time and money to prosecute innocent people," scoffed Jacob Lloyd when charged in 2012 with "fraud by misrepresentation" for telling a rabbit breeder in West Sussex he had the authority to remove her bunnies. A volunteer for Animal Defence Services at the time, he was also charged with releasing the breeder’s details to try to damage her business.
The career extremist's quote is ironic as a judge accused him and an unscrupulous law firm of doing exactly the same thing, netting them an unknown amount of money and destroying the lives and livelihoods of countless innocent people in a phony animal rights crusade. Jacob stormed along a path of good intentions, punishing and harassing anyone he perceived as a threat to creatures great and small, but mostly dogs.
"Ever since I was young I have had hate for injustice," said 16-year-old Jake Knight, Jacob’s previous name, in a 2013 interview. "When I was around 10 I got involved in caring for local wildlife. That led me to joining the local hunt monitors group… so all my life."
At 14, Jacob was volunteering for the Animal Defence Society, which insisted its "evidence-based and ethical campaigns" would "encourage compassion towards non-human animals". They didn't. Instead they led to persecution and criminal acts targeting a pet shop. In April 2012, ADS was tipped off by a "painter and decorator" that Animal Magic in Littlehampton was abusing animals it was selling, so he stuck an ADS campaign poster on one of its windows. He vowed to "carry on until Animal Magic stop selling animals".
Animal Magic "has a history of animal abuse", Jacob insisted, accusing the shop of depriving animals of veterinary treatment. "When companies are exposed in the media, animal lovers feel obliged to take the law into their own hands," he said, trying to justify the vandalism and unsubstantiated accusations, but claimed ADS members "remain committed to peaceful protests outside Animal Magic and campaigning within the law". ADS no longer exists, while Animal Magic is still operating although under another name. The painter and decorator appears not to have kept his promise.
Jacob defended his chequered past in a 2013 interview with blogger Robyn Patey-Johns to promote his new animal rights business, the Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency Limited.
"I have broken the law because of the inaction from local authorities," Jacob ranted. "I was convicted of rescuing animals from a breeder and I believe that breaking the law furthers the cause. It is however people's own conscience that should govern if they break the law or not."
Despite his bizarre grasp of law and order, Patey-Johns hailed Jacob as "one of the country's most inspirational 16 year olds" and called him AWEA Ltd’s "chief inspector", the first in a series of pseudo-official titles he took on over the years. Not surprisingly, Patey-Johns was one of the directors of AWEA Ltd.
"If people feel that breaking the law is in the best interests of the animals, who am I to disagree?" he told Patey-Johns. "Civil trespass is nothing compared to what the animals go through, and if I have to violate someone’s civil rights to protect animals then I will."
Perhaps not satisfied with Patty-Johns' coverage, especially after she resigned from AWEA Ltd, Jacob decided in 2014 to write about his business.
After promoting himself to AWEA's "executive director", he wrote an article for the Dodo titled Really - fox hunting!? in which he complains about ex-Tory PM Liz Truss wanting to scrap the fox hunting ban. He also asks readers for money.
A shorter piece about badgers also tries to tap donations. In it Jacob declares: "The Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency won't stop campaigning for badgers until the killing is over." Judging by AWEA Ltd’s dead website, that hasn't gone according to plan as culls continue.
The same year, Jacob released a video of himself harassing a pet shop that appears to be Animal Magic. The person who stuck it on YouTube says Jacob subjected the shop to "years of torment and lies". The poster didn't respond to messages asking for details.
Perhaps disillusioned by pretending his company was a charity, Jacob set up a fund called Cruelty Watch in 2016. He began prosecuting puppy farmers, accusing them of mistreating animals.
Cruelty Watch files complaint against suspected unlicensed puppy farm in Llanelli, ran one Welsh newspaper in 2017. "This is a disturbing case of neglect and there is no excuse for it," the story quoted a spokesman (Jacob) after a raid by "investigation officers" (Jacob again). "We believe that the property is operating as unlicensed pet shop. It is an organised criminal enterprise."
The spokesman added the charity’s investigators would visit other addresses in the town to see if any rules were being broken so they could report the owners to authorities.
The charity, which was made up of two people (including Jacob), folded in 2019 when Animal Protection Services was born. The APS website home page - before it was shut down - showed the shoulder of a man wearing a navy blue jumper with epaulettes and motifs that made him look like he had some sort of official ranking, in line with Jacob’s delusion that he was legally mandated to do anything he could if it looked like it might stop animals being abused.
APS zipped through 2020, prosecuting people up and down the UK for alleged puppy-related crimes and stepping up demands for donations with each outrageous headline it produced. Puppy with clipped ears left with smelly sores at hands of cruel Nuneaton owner declared one, then this warning: Thousands of puppy dealers at risk of prosecution.
Reading APS’s weekly newsletter, the charity appeared unstoppable in either bringing to justice cruel dog breeders or asking for your money. "In 2021, the team at Animal Protection Services processed over 850 reports of organised and deliberate cruelty to animals," he wrote. "Thanks to your generosity, we spent over 250 hours working in the field conducting vital intelligence from surveillance operations, rescued dozens of animals, and got justice for animals. My team of surveillance trained animal rescuers are ready to deploy once again… I want to bring more puppy farmers to justice than ever before. I just need your help to make this lifesaving work possible… so please give to save animals today." At the same time, APS press releases were offering £1,000 for tips that led to prosecutions.
So high was the charity’s profile, busts were covered by the BBC and Daily Mail, among others. APS was championed by Hounslow’s Labour Party councillor Katherine Dunne. Money was donated by PR celeb Charlotte Tobin, who apparently raised £3,464 for a dog ambulance. APS also received praise from high-profile animal charity Four Paws, specifically its head of UK campaigns, Emily Wilson.
In reality, Jacob had tapped into a loophole and was, with the help of a now defunct solicitor firm, bringing private prosecutions against innocent people, winning, then claiming back their massively-inflated costs through the court system.
I asked Emily Wilson whether any due diligence was done to see whether APS was actually doing anything good. I asked Katherine Dunne the same question and neither bothered to reply. Nor did Charlotte Tobin when asked if it really was her who raised thousands for a dog ambulance. What are dog ambulances?
In early 2021, Heather Young of Preston and several of her friends and family were accused of selling puppies without a licence, money laundering and other offences by APS. The Lancashire Post gleefully published news that one of the defendants missed a court hearing and insisted APS "prosecutes animal cruelty" after "intelligence-led investigations" - copying and pasting APS propaganda. It posted the phone number for Crimestoppers and encouraged people to call if they spotted fugitive puppy abusers.
The Post changed its tune after judge Darren Preston threw out the case in September, saying there was "no evidence at all" the defendants were involved in illegal puppy farming and there was an "improper financial motive… steered by Jacob Lloyd from the shadows in his misguided belief that he can do whatever he wishes, whether inside or outside the law, to carry out his personal crusade… to protect animals".
"Were this prosecution be allowed to continue," Preston declared, "there would be an affront to justice."
Heather insists all she wanted to do was find homes for puppies rescued from farms after she’d used her own money to get them healthy and sell the dogs at cost at a time - during lockdown - when puppy prices spiked. She ordered a German Shepherd online but after the seller went silent, started looking elsewhere. He got in touch again and threatened to drown the dog if she didn’t buy it. She took it but reported the seller to authorities. "I did the right thing," she says. The authorities did nothing. Heather applied for a licence but was told none existed for what she was doing.
She became obsessed with the epidemic of puppy breeders that sprang up after seeing the dire circumstances in which some of the dogs were kept. APS claimed her mother was laundering money by lending her thousands of pounds to buy baby Cavapoos. It took about a year for Heather and the others to clear their names after APS swooped in, determined to prosecute with the help of its shady solicitors. In that time, Heather blames the stress and persistent harassment for a miscarriage. She was also forced into debt, lost friends and was sent death threats.
Parry and Welch Solicitors LLC (PAWS) and APS reckoned they won 80-100 cases in 2021 but denied some were "over-zealous prosecutions" or the team "acted improperly or maliciously". Word quickly spread though, especially on dog websites, warning people acting in the best interests of their four-legged friends were being targeted by APS, which saw itself above the law and was prosecuting anyone it believed to be selling puppies illegally.
Animal Protection Services -v- Alex-Kaye Carrigan and Elisha Brown at Manchester Crown Court on November 9th, 2021, was the end of the road for the animal rights scam. Judge Nicholas Dean virtually repeated judge Preston, but went a step further. He said proof PAWS and APS were working together was clear after solicitors James Parry and Kate Welch formed Private Prosecution Service Limited with Jacob.
Dean pointed out that APS statements against both defendants - who were being prosecuted separately - were almost identical and written by Serena James. James was listed as an employee of Animal Protection Services from October 2021 - one month before the court case - and the sole member of APS besides Jacob, who had by that time promoted himself to "senior prosecutor".
The prosecutions, Dean said, resulted in "grossly exaggerated fees" being recovered. Defendants are unable to claim back fees unless they’re acquitted. Even then, they are capped at a quarter of fees spent on Crown Court cases. Most cases stop at the lower Magistrates Court, so trials never take place and the prosecution can still claim fees. APS and PAWS appeared to rely on defendants not wanting or able to spend money on the court case. Dean denied a PAWS request to drop the case at the Magistrates Court, forcing the trial that brought down the animal rights scammers. "APS, sometimes in conjunction with PAWS, may have been involved in systematic fraud and in perverting the course of public justice", he said, calling for an investigation. Private Eye questioned how many of the successful prosecutions would be reviewed. Probably zero.
A statement on APS’s website denied everything, insisting it was following the rules based on advice from lawyers - effectively blaming PAWS, which no longer represented it. Since then, APS has shut down and the Charity Commission is investigating it. PAWS has also closed and both websites disappeared.
Also missing from the internet and APS legal documents are the identities of the four secret trustees whose names have been redacted from Charity Commission documents for privacy reasons. I would be very interested to know who these people are (there might be a reward for spilling the beans).
Despite the Charity Commission investigating APS, it took a long time for some of the fundraising pages on well known lottery and crowdfunding websites to be taken down. Until recently, JustGiving had numerous pages with all money - minus its cut - still going to Animal Protection Services.
Donate your birthday: £0
Ear cropping investigations: £2,905.00
Animal Protection Club: £459.68
Charlotte Tobin's dog ambulance: £3,838.72
Five Pound Friday: £1,439
Operation Predator: £5,714.50
100K for Dogs: £30
At the time of writing, the subtotal of money earned through JustGiving was £14K+. Add to that Gift Aid of £2K+ and you get nearly £17K. The APS page on OneLottery has earned the charity tens of thousands of pounds. APS also had pages on Raisely, RafflePlayer and no doubt elsewhere drawing in more cash.
I wrote to all the websites that host APS fundraising. JustGiving initially refused to do anything, despite knowing APS was being investigated. A support staff member called "Hannah C" insisted I direct all my enquiries to the Charity Commission and she was unable to discuss the matter further. It took months but finally JustGiving appears to have deleted all the APS pages, including the one for the Tobin dog ambulance.
Raisely is the only website that took action and deleted the APS account not long after saying it would "investigate the account to see if it complies with our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct, and will work with the organisation directly if we feel the account needs to be suspended – as is appropriate in a situation like this".
The Fundraising Regulator said: "Once an organisation is registered and actively fundraising, if it is then determined that an organisation is in breach of the code, we can investigate this and take further action if necessary." But then added: "As a non-statutory regulator tasked with overseeing the code, we haven’t the remit to investigate allegations of fraud, or other criminal activity (such perjury/perverting the course of justice etc.)." Exactly what the Fundraising Regulator is regulating isn't clear.
In his summary, judge Dean said private prosecutions had been carried out successfully for years by the RSPCA and Trading Standards so there was no need for Animal Protection Services. At the same time, conspiracy theorists such as March Against The RSPCA, had a different spin on the matter entirely, insisting APS was perhaps stepping on the toes of giants, who used it to set an example.
At almost exactly the same time as he was being accused of perverting the course of justice, Jacob was reinventing himself. In November 2021, he founded CB Intelligence Limited, which expanded his investigations globally and his focus beyond animals, to humans.
"Headquartered in London but operating across the UK and internationally, CB Intelligence conducts sensitive investigations cost effectively and efficiently. The firm utilises an extensive investigator network to provide clients with the facts and evidence to make informed decisions. We specialise in surveillance, whether in the field or open source research."
Once again, it’s just him. Nobody else. He may have known a network of investigators through his membership of the Institute of Professional Investigators and the World Association of Professional Investigators, but probably not.
"Whether you’re a client who needs surveillance on their matrimonial partner, a corporate who needs to conduct surveillance on an employee who is claiming sick pay, or an insurance company that needs evidence of fraud, our discrete and professional investigators can provide the evidence and facts that you need. We bring extensive experience and professionalism to every investigation and customise our solutions to your individual needs and concerns."
This opens up the possibility of Jacob moving from meddling with relationships between people and animals to messing up marriages and businesses. With his questionable ethics and shady past, it’s easy to see how it could end in disaster.
Luckily, it seems CB Intelligence didn't last long and in February 2023, Jacob renamed the company, returning to his roots.
They do say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
UPDATE, 26/08/2023
The Guardian, November 8, 2021:
The BBC, yesterday: