An illegal Carmarthenshire dog breeder who sold puppies from ten unlicensed litters pocketed up to £57,000 from their sales.

This week Llanelli magistrates heard that Ashleigh Price of Llwynhendy sold Jack Russells, Labradors, Cocker spaniels and West Highland Terriers over a 16-month period.

The amount of money he received from the illegal litters is estimated to be between £34,000 and £57,000.

Magistrates were reminded that it is illegal to advertise three or more litters of puppies from the same premises within a 12-month rolling period without a dog breeding licence.

In a prosecution led by Carmarthenshire County Council, the court was told that council officers visited the premises in Parc Richard following complaints received from Citizens Advice Consumer Services in July last year that the 25-year-old had kennels in his garden and that he was illegally breeding dogs.

Checks with both websites revealed four accounts in Price’s name and two in his wife’s. Most of the adverts stated the puppies were family pets.

In mitigation, Price said that he wanted to make more money due to him being on weekly benefits of £120 and that he acted alone and set up accounts in his wife’s name.

He denied making profits of £35,000 saying that he ‘haggled’ the price and that some of the dogs were given away to family and friends. He also said he had no record of how much the dogs were sold for.

Price was fined £500, ordered to pay £750 costs and £50 victim surcharge.