Dog fighting brute Anthony Holloway was a member of an animal killing ring that included some of the most vicious abusers in the UK. Sadistic Holloway shared grisly photos and videos of animal mutilation with Rhys Davies, who is currently serving an eight-month jail sentence for badger baiting - the longest in Scottish legal history.
Despite Holloway, 30, being based in Dumbarton and Davies 130 miles away at the Millden Estate in Angus, where he was employed as a gamekeeper, the pair forged a close bond. The pair exchanged messages relating to badger baiting and the covert world of dog fighting.
The Record told yesterday how Holloway has been a big player in the depraved pit bull fighting scene, travelling to fights in the UK and Ireland with dogs he bred in his Roc Red stable. We can today reveal the sick videos that Holloway sent to Davies, 28, and others, featuring his Patterdale terriers dragging badgers from their setts before being slaughtered.
Both men have been given bans on keeping animals after major investigations by the SSPCA’s Special Investigations Unit.
One senior inspector for the unit said: “During our investigations we were able to establish that Anthony Holloway and Rhys Davies were prolific in their animal fighting activities throughout the UK. In August this year, Davies was sentenced to eight months in prison and a 15-year ban on owning or keeping animals.
“Holloway has previously been involved with animal fighting, and last year was handed a four-year ban on owning or keeping dogs as well as a 270 hour community payback order.
“Our investigation left us with no doubt that Holloway is a significant member of organised dog fighting and badger baiting in Scotland and throughout the UK. These cases involved some of the most serious cruelty our special investigations unit has ever dealt with.”
During the court proceedings against Rhys Davies, a detailed narrative was prepared for the court by the SSPCA.
The narrative states: “Davies is clearly in communication with an individual who is well practised in fighting his dogs with badgers. The reporting officer has identified this individual as Anthony Holloway from photographs that he sent of himself to Davies.
“He has sent him two clear videos of his dogs pulling badgers from their setts. They are exchanging information regarding dog breeds and talking about what dogs are best for killing what animals, be it badger or fox. There are other, numerous conversations with this individual.”
The Record told yesterday how Anthony Holloway and accomplices have used a hellish compound in Dumbarton, constructed of corrugated iron and topped with barbed wire, to train fighting dogs. He circulated a sick match report on the bloody bouts between an American pit bull he trained and a dog from another fighting stable.
Davies was caged for eight months and banned from keeping animals for 15 years after Forfar Sheriff Court saw a shocking selection of photographs of badgers and foxes being killed by the sadist’s dogs. Davies was rumbled after he submitted photos to be developed and the alarm was raised by a shocked shop worker.
Sentencing Davies in August, Sheriff Derek Reekie told him: “It is deeply disturbing, the horrific, cruel and senseless nature of the crime, as well as the cruelty to your own dogs. Your text messages demonstrate your sickening enjoyment in what you were doing.”
Rhys Davies is no longer employed at Millden Estate and its owners have claimed they had no awareness of his sick pursuits. When the SSPCA raided Davies’ home on the grouse shooting estate near Glenesk, they found severely injured dogs, along with an unsecured shotgun, two rifles and more than 140 bullets.
Officers also discovered damning conversations with a man named as “T” - another sadist, Liam Taylor, who was convicted of similar offences last November.
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