Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@jack_charlesf
Topics: Celebrity, Love Island, Crime, Dog, Pets, Reality TV, TV And Film
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Celebrity, Love Island, Crime, Dog, Pets, Reality TV, TV And Film
Love Island winner Jack Fincham has been sentenced to prison over his 'dangerously out-of-control' dog.
The 32-year-old reality TV star pleaded guilty to the charge at Southend-on-Sea Magistrates’ Court earlier this morning (29 January) after his Cane Corso, named Elvis, bit Robert Sudell in Swanley, Kent, back in September 2022.
He faced two counts of being in charge of a 'dangerously out-of-control' dog with a separate incident which took place in Grays, Essex, last June - although no injury was reported on that occasion.
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He's also been ordered to pay £3,680 to the courts, including a £200 compensation fee to one of the victims, which also includes a £50 compensation fee to the second victim.
Richard Cooper, for Fincham, said the defendant 'has no savings', while Ms Wade said Fincham could pay in instalments, initially at £400 per month.
She made an order that the dog must be muzzled in public places, be kept on a lead and not be left alone with anyone under the age of 16.
Presiding magistrate Anne Wade said Fincham could pay in instalments at £400 per month upon release from jail as part of a payment plan arranged with the court.
She made an order that the dog must be muzzled in public places, be kept on a lead and not be left alone with anyone under the age of 16, adding: "The dog was in a public place not abiding by the conditions to be muzzled and kept on a lead.”
Fincham, who won Love Island back 2018 with Dani Dyer, was joined in court with his girlfriend, The Only Way Is Essex star Chloe Brockett, who reportedly wept as he was taken down to the cells, according to Metro.
Unlike XL bullies, the Cane Corso is not currently banned in the UK.
After an increase in attacks by the XL bully breed, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak enforced a tight crack down on who can own one and under what conditions.
Calling the breed a 'danger to our communities', he confirmed that the dog had been placed under the Dangerous Dogs act and that new laws would be implemented 'by the end of the year'.
The American XL bully breed is thought to have originated in the US in the 1980s and are a mix of American pit bull terrier and American Staffordshire terrier, which is why it’s very easy to mistake the breeds for one another.
Christine Middlemiss, Chief veterinary officer stated: "From 1 February 2024, it will also be a criminal offence to be in possession of an XL bully in England and Wales unless you have applied for an exemption."