Well Lauren, I never doubted you for a second, you know that....so I am so pleased to see that the truth has finally been realised by the courts. Now to kick some council ass! And Julie...I would also like to see the hat-eating

__________________
Our Reptiles1.1.2 Rhacodactylus chahoua7.11.20 Rhacodactylus ciliatus1.2.4 Rhacodactylus auriculatus0.0.1 Rhacodactylus leachianus henkeli (Nu Ana)1.0.0 Uroplatus guentheri0.16.0 Lepidodactylus lugubris1.1.0 Goniurosaurus hainanensis0.0.4 Varanus acanthurus

Congrats on the verdict, I remember reading that thread and thinking a news report always goes for a shock factor and not necessarily the full and explained truth.

I presume (rightly or wrongly) the animals were taken away while it was all being decided, were any of them personal pets? Do you know what happened to them or if they will be coming back?

__________________
Oakelm Exotics
Keeper and hobby breeder of:
-Royal Pythons
-Kenyan Sand Boas
-Cornsnakes
-Childrens Pythons

www.oakelm.co.uk
oakelm@sky.com

James here.

I haven't posted on RFUK since the aforementioned thread, because I was so disgusted by the behaviour of certain people on the forums that I frankly had no desire to continue to participate in the sort of place where a witch-hunt of the kind carried out against Lauren and Craig, and by extension Julie, could take place with the full approval (and even participation) of senior posters and moderators.

Now that the verdict has 100% vindicated Lauren and Craig and also those of us who stood by them while the press, the courts, and certain elements of these forums trashed them left and right, I feel one last post won't hurt.

Kato, after so many months, you might think you can shrug off the aforementioned quotes as "just a turn of phrase", but from my reading of events you stated TWICE - with a smug and assured laugh - that you were so sure of yourself that you'd eat your hat if this eventuality came about. Well, it has come about, and until such time that you post PICS on here of you doing just that, I'll be unable to take a single word you say as anything other than hot air. I wont hold my breath to see them though.

Maybe it's unfair to single you out, but reading back over that thread, you were bullish to the extreme, going so far as to warn me of the "dangers of libelling" the original judge (a person you hinted that you knew), claiming superior knowledge of the law, dismissing any idea that this process might be faulty, deriding the idea that the appeal might overturn the verdict - all in the face of evidence you clearly had no idea about. You weren't alone, and there are others who need to eat crow just as much as you do, but your position as a respected and senior poster on the forums gives extra weight to your posts, and gives other forum members a guide as to what is and is not acceptable.

At the very least, I'm sure you and all the others who jumped on the bandwagon in that thread would like to take this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to Julie, Lauren and Craig for the additional stress and damage to their reputation which they might justifiably have expected not to receive on a forum full of reptile enthusiasts who know just how much the hobby is already vilified by some minorities in society - and how easy it is to take a pinch of incomplete information and use it to paint any of us as villains.

As for me, I'm just delighted for them that the nightmare is over, and they can start to build back towards some kind of normality.

I now return you to your regular contributor - the lovely Julie.

__________________


Our Reptiles1.0.0 Bearded Dragon0.2.0 Black Rock Agama4.6.2 Crested Gecko1.3.0 Leopard Gecko1.1.0 Sarasinorium Gecko 1.1.0 Gargoyle Gecko1.1.0 Corn Snake
Our Amphibians0.1.0 Golden Albino AxolotlIf you think our signature image is too bigSit further away from your monitor :P
Member number 6027!

well done i was hoping it would all come out ok for you
and cant you sue the council for wrongly accusing you ?
if you can its worth a shot

__________________
1.1 Whites Tree Frogs

Thank you to everyone so far who has given us congratulations. I notice none of the original posters who trashed us have been on yet
I find it very telling that so many people have read this but only 12 people so far have replied and those people were not the original perpetrators. People love to jump on the bandwagon and trash peoples reputation but are nowere near as quick to apologise.

A massive thank you to some amazing forum members who have supported me throughtout this nightmare - biohazard156, suez, wacky69, sarasin (mam) and julie&james to name some of them - without you guys I think I might have lost my mind.

James thanks for a post which I think is well justified.

Joeyboy - legally yes I am allowed to reopen my shop but I dont think I would ever go down that route again certainly not in the stockton councils area. I think I would rather work away from pet stores - at least for now anyway.

Yes all of the animals bar our dog were removed - over 350 animals in total. None of which were returned even though the council charged us with a very small amount of them they refused to give us any of them back. A large proportion of them were personal pets including some pastel boas which I had grown on from neonates and were 5 feet, some I had own for over 10 years and some were hand reared parrots which were bonded to me. I have no idea whether the council have any of them left or whether they have 'died' as quoted in letters to our solicitor by their legal team. I seriously doubt I will see any of my animals again. Its a situation I would never ever wish upon my worst enemy especially as there isnt a single thing I could do about it. Its as if part of my family has been taken away - I doubt I will ever get over that fact. No amount of compensation can bring back those animals.

I will be keeping a very close eye on this thread and Im still waiting for my apologies.

I dont know any of what went off before (I will go have a read of the other thread later) as I dont think I was a member then, but would like to say well done on getting the result

And also to offer my sympathies on the loss of all your animals, you must be in bits what with all the court stuff, forum stuff, loosing your pet shop...and to not know where they are, if theyre ok, if you will ever see them again on top of all that, you must be gutted. So sorry mate it all sucks big time.

Hope you manage to get back to some sort of normality, best of luck for the future hun...and a big for you xx

__________________

Congratulations, I know it has been an ongoing hell for you both.

I am glad things have gone in your favour and you can once again do what you love to do.

Liz

__________________
Our collection1.1 Royal pythons5.9Bearded Dragons + 37 eggs cooking 4.3 Corn snakes [option]/option]

Please visit our newly designed website
www.acedragons.co.uk


For Sale:



Available mid September
Orange flame x Florida orange
and more Ghost x Ghost/Bloodreds
(pm us for prices)

I was actually offline and out of the country when the orginal thread was created so the first I have come to know about it is today and only really read the first post by uro.

Obviously I dont know uroplatus but I do wish you all the best and congrats on the result. I just hope you can now get back on track mate and hopefully you get compensated for whats gone on.

__________________
Previously known as Fazer600sy



Member 687

Look I will be perfectly honest with you I have had hat for tea.

But what we must remember as a nation we must respect what the Courts say, when we fail to do so then our Country will fall to bits.

What I said in previous threads I stick by the Courts decision at the time and before you think folk have gone by what was said in the Papers, the Courts did Convict without the aid of local rags. I base my comments on what the Courts said.

You seem to have singled me out from half a dozen or so others who made there opinions known on the original Thread, I find this very hard to understand as all along I never made any personal attacks on those involved. I even said more than once that there was no doubting that as a couple there was no doubting that they were more than capable of good animal husbandry.

So, I hope that you have every success getting your business back on track and wish you the best of luck seeking compensation from the Courts.

__________________
Someday's I wake up Grumpy, but most days I let Wohic sleep in.

Not 100% certain of what occurred previously but from the look of the info, you suffered needlessly and unduly at the hands of others here on RFUK.. While I was not on this fora at the time, I'm glad to be able to say a hearty congrats and I wish you and those closest to you a happy future..

__________________
Kids or Lizards.. kids or Lizards...?? Damn.. I'll miss those kids....


1.1.0 Bearded Dragons. Irwin and Melba
1.1.0 Children Ciaran and Charlize

The name is Turpin, Patrick Turpin... Feel free to come and say hi on Facebook..