A builder’s merchant faces up to five years in jail for killing hundreds of unwanted greyhounds and burying them on land near his home.

David Smith, 57, admitted one charge under the Pollution, Prevention and Control Regulations of burying the dogs without a permit. He allegedly slaughtered them for £10 a time because they had passed their peak on the racetrack.

Durham Magistrates’ Court committed Smith, a father of three, to Durham Crown Court yesterday because its sentencing powers were insufficient. Magistrates could only impose a fine of up to £20,000 or six months’ jail.

Vivian Lowe, chairman of the bench, said: “We are of the view that this was a commercial operation and it was going on for a considerable length of time and was escalating in recent years.”

The prosecution was brought by the Environment Agency after a report in The Sunday Times last July that Smith may have killed and buried up to 10,000 greyhounds over the past 15 years. The court was told yesterday that no figure could be put on the number of animals he had killed and buried and Smith maintained that it was “nowhere near that figure”.

He also claimed in court that he had disposed of the dead animals with the knowledge of the RSPCA, police and the council.

Smith, of Seaham, Durham, will be sentenced at a date yet to be set. An Environment Agency spokesman said: “At Crown Court, the maximum sentence is five years in prison or an unlimited fine, or both.”

About 20 placard-bearing protesters from Greyhound Action gathered outside the court to draw attention to the alleged suffering and slaughter of dogs in the greyhound industry and to call on people not to attend or bet on the sport.

According to The Sunday Times, Smith killed the dogs with a bolt gun in his garden shed, wheeled them out in a barrow to a hole in his one-acre garden and covered their bodies using a mechanical digger.

On two consecutive days, an undercover reporter filmed trainers delivering greyhounds to Smith to be killed.

Smith is quoted as saying: “I am doing a service because the council and everyone who comes here, the RSPCA . . . begged us not to pack it in, because if I do there will be dogs all over the streets . . . that’s what they said to me.”

The RSPCA said that it had no record of speaking to Smith. Steve Cheetham, its chief veterinary officer, said yesterday: “This appalling and unnecessary slaughter shows how vital it is that racing greyhounds are given the protection they deserve through proper independent regulation. Unfortunately, this is a sad reflection on the greyhound racing industry, which should be doing more to clean up its act. It is crucial that the industry accepts this as a problem, and works with animal welfare organisations to ensure the dogs’ welfare is a top priority.

“There is simply no justification for killing ex-racing greyhounds just because they can’t do their job any more. An animal should be the owner’s responsibility for life, not just until they have reached the end of their usefulness.”

Greyhounds usually race until they are 3 to 5 years old. Some find places as pets and live to an age of 12 to 14 but many are put down.

Alistair McLean, chief executive of the National Greyhound Racing Club, said: “We categorically don’t endorse this kind of thing.”

Ben Bradshaw, the Minister responsible for animal welfare, warned the greyhound industry that it was “drinking in the last chance saloon” and faced government regulation if it failed to act.

At the dogs

30 Greyhound racecourses regulated by the National Greyhound Racing Club in the UK

10,000 greyhounds registered annually for licensed racing

19 unregulated racecourses with no formal minimum standards for dog welfare

Source: National Greyhound Racing Club

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