UNITED KINGDOM -- A designer-clad escort with 'pouty lips' was caught running a disease-ridden puppy farm after a dead dog was discovered in the boot of her white Mercedes.
Grace Banks, 29, was 'thoroughly dishonest' when she advertised the puppies - which were riddled with contagious diseases - using fake images from Google.
She then sold the pets for up to £600 and her buyers all described her as having 'HD brows, long black hair and pouty lips'.
The 'cruel' and 'callous' fraudster, now of Manchester, also worked as escort and faces jail after being convicted of animal cruelty following a trial.
A court heard Banks imported and sold the severely ill puppies to unsuspecting families - some of whom contracted diseases from their new pets.
One of her victims, Lorna Melia, bought a Cavachon puppy, but it was female not male as advertised - and had fleas and worms.
NOTE: The Cavachon is not a pure breed. Rather, it's a "designer dog" combination of Bichon Frise and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
She was eventually rumbled when the RSPCA raided her £850-a-month then-home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in April last year.
Inspectors then discovered a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy that had died of parvovirus - which would have caused the animal two days of agony - in the boot of her white Mercedes Coupe.
The animals in her puppy farm were kept in pens while she advertised them for sale on website Pets4Homes, Manchester Magistrates' Court heard.
The court was told she used numerous mobile phones and her email address matched one she used to advertise her services as an escort.
She was described as having 'HD brows', which is a seven-step eyebrow shaping treatment that uses a combination of techniques including tinting, waxing and threading.
And the court heard she routinely told buyers they could not meet the puppies' mothers because they were separated for 'weaning'. Instead, she would show them a fake picture of a puppy in a pink heart frame.
Banks, who was also known as Leah Rogers and Lilly Cooper, used two addresses in Oldham to sell the puppies.
Brazenly, she had been selling the dogs while on bail awaiting trial for running a puppy farm with her brother Julian King.
That case was the biggest of its kind ever prosecuted by the RSPCA as it involved thousands of puppies.
Banks was jailed for five months last October after pleading guilty on the day of the trial - and was released in time to stand trial again.
This time, she blamed a friend, who just happened to match her description and also drive a white Mercedes.
Finding Banks guilty at Manchester Magistrates' Court, judge Nicholas Sanders described her as a 'completely unconvincing' witness who struggled to remember a 'concocted' story and ruled the she was selling the puppies, with a male accomplice.
Mr Sanders said: 'Although I only heard evidence of eight puppies it is clear that she was involved in the selling of many, many more. Ms Banks is a thoroughly dishonest woman who has inflicted considerable misery on innocent members of the public through her activities with animals.
'She knew that her victims would be unable to resist the purchase of a puppy even though they had misgivings about the arrangements and what they were being told. Her approach to animal welfare was cruel and callous. She has shown no remorse.'
He found Banks guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a puppy, not ensuring the needs of nine puppies, keeping a pet shop without a licence and fraud.
Warning Banks she faced jail, he adjourned the case to Crown Court so they could impose a sentence longer than six months.
Ian Briggs, chief inspector with RSPCA special operations unit, said: 'Her set up was designed to maximise profits.
She lulled buyers into a false sense of security by making people think she was a legitimate breeder.
She actually didn't care eat all - her sole driver was to maximize profits. She wanted the dogs in and out as quickly as possible while trying to allay the fears of buyers.'
Banks was cleared of one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a cavachon puppy called Lulu by failing to provide veterinary treatment.
(
Daily Mail - April 22, 2016)
