5 Mar 2025
A “dangerous offender” has begun a lengthy prison term after he admitted encouraging and filming his then partner engaging in sexual activity with their dog.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image © stadtratte / Adobe Stock
A man who filmed his then partner as she engaged in sexual acts with their pet dog has been jailed for five and a half years.
A judge said the pug had been in a “state of helplessness” during an ordeal that is likely to raise further questions about the current laws on animal sexual abuse.
Graham Marshall, 39, was described as a “dangerous offender” as he was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on 3 March.
He had previously pleaded guilty to a range of sexual and cruelty offences against the dog, as well as possession of indecent images of children, extreme pornographic material and voyeurism.
His co-defendant, Paige Reaney, 33, was given a nine-month prison term, suspended for two years, having earlier admitted sexual and animal cruelty offences.
The court heard Marshall had been both physically and sexually abused, as well as being exposed to sexual abuse of animals, as a child, YorkshireLive reported.
But, passing sentence, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC imposed an extended four-year licence period on top of his prison term, telling him: “You have wallowed in the swamp of sexual depravity repeatedly, and over a long period.”
Addressing Reaney, the judge said he accepted there had been “a level of coercion” in her involvement, though she had not refused Marshall’s requests.
The court was earlier told that a vet who examined the pug, named Charlie, had reported he “would have been in distress and pain” when forced to engage in sexual acts.
The offences eventually came to light after devices that were seized from the pair’s then home by police in 2019 were finally examined.
Marshall was made the subject of lifelong notification requirements, while Reaney will face similar requirements for 10 years. Both defendants were also barred from keeping animals.
The case is among the first of its kind to be brought to court since veterinary professionals were urged to speak out more frequently about the sexual abuse of animals during a London Vet Show presentation last November.
Work on a new campaign to seek political support for reform of existing laws is said to be ongoing.
