Donations pour in at Shropshire dogs’ home hit by £30,000 fraud
Donations of bedding, food and more than £1,500 have been handed to a dogs' home after it was revealed it was still suffering from the effects of being defrauded of almost £30,000.
Birch Hill Dog Rescue, in Neen Sollars, near Cleobury Mortimer, was among those targeted in an international, multi-million pound fraud by Wyvern Media, a company based in Derby.
The dogs’ home has been on the brink of closure in recent months, more than two years after it was defrauded of thousands, as it struggles to meet weekly costs and make urgent repairs.
But now after the appeal was featured in the Shropshire Star, the dogs' home has received cash donations, bedding, food, and a local roofing company has paid for materials to stop a leaking roof which has drenched some of the dogs when there has been bad weather.
Manager at the dog home, Ellie Kistruck, said: "We had a great response of generous cash donations, donations of food and bedding, and a local roofing company has paid for the rest of the materials to finish the other side of the kennel block, that was on hold until spring as we didn't have the funds.
"We have also had a builder offer to replace the front and back door to the kennel block.
"We are beyond thrilled.
"But we are still in need of someone who can do some soldering for us in the Spring to repair the kennel pens. Some are just falling apart and rusting away."
Four leading figures at Wyvern Media were ordered to hand over a combined £1.3 million from their ill-gotten gains after they defrauded the home which was just one of their victims. The managing director Jonathan Rivers was jailed for six years.
Owner, Jutta Patterson, who ran the dogs' home with her husband, Terry, passed away from cancer shortly after being conned. Trustees of the dogs’ home said the stress of her ordeal with Wyvern hastened her decline and left the home struggling to keep going.
The Derby-based Wyvern Media cold-called small companies to pressurise them into purchasing advertising space in its publications. But sellers lied to businesses by using false distribution figures, being unclear about what publication they were representing and misleading them into thinking their publications would be promoted at high profile events.
They also used aggressive selling techniques and made unauthorised withdrawals from customers’ bank accounts.
For more information, or to donate, visit birchhilldogrescue.org.uk
