A man must pay over £3,000 following the death of a pug who was in his care on the owners' wedding day.
A total of £3,550 is now due, after Jeremy Burrowes appeared at Stevenage Magistrates' Court on Friday (April 21).
Luna the pug attended the wedding of her owners, Ben Hill and Ffion James, on Friday July 8, 2022.
READ MORE
Following the ceremony, she was returned to Country Boarding for Cats and Dogs - off the A505 between Baldock and Royston - where she was left in the back of a van for two hours and sadly died.
At the time, Ffion wrote in a post on social media: "Yesterday was one of the best and most amazing days of our lives.
"Unfortunately, this morning is a completely different story.
Get more stories like this delivered to your inbox every week by signing up to our newsletter.
"We woke up this morning to find out our beautiful little Puggy had died.
"She was in the care of a well-known local kennels and was horrifyingly left in the van and forgotten about.
"She was found a few hours later, but it was already too late.
"The weather would have made the van unbearably hot, and I can’t imagine the suffering she must have gone through."
A GoFundMe Page was set up at the time, named 'Justice for Luna the Pug!', raising funds to help the owners with whatever they may require. £445 was raised in total.
Renate, who runs Country Boarding with her husband Jeremy, commented at the time: "We care deeply for all the animals we look after and to have something like this happen has left us completely heartbroken.
"Whilst it sounds an unimaginable mistake to make, humans make mistakes and all we can do now is learn from this incident.
"The blame for this incident lies entirely with us, as the business owners, and not with our wonderful employees."
A fine to the sum of £750 was imposed during Friday's hearing, along with a contribution of £2,500 towards the council's costs.
A further victim surcharge, to the sum of £300, was also imposed.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here