Police hunt thugs who beat dog on train (From Echo)
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Police hunt thugs who beat dog on train
2:53pm Monday 11th March 2013 in News By Gina Marden
POLICE are hunting two thugs who battered a dog on a train in front of horrified passengers.
The two men had been travelling on the train at Benfleet when they began repeatedly hitting the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
They used a chain to hit the dog in an attack which lasted around 30-minutes.
Police are now hunting the men following the incident which happened at 8.40pm on Friday February 15.
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Comments (42)
3:00pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Audioman says...
3:01pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Phil McCrakin says...
3:24pm Mon 11 Mar 13
supermadmax says...
I'm no dog lover, but surely some of these 'horrified passengers' were, so why did no one say / do anything ?
Also were is the CCTV please Echo ? If you can be bothered, then please call British Transport Police & they will supply it.
3:43pm Mon 11 Mar 13
DogsMessInLeigh says...
4:01pm Mon 11 Mar 13
southendnan says...
4:11pm Mon 11 Mar 13
mrs m boone says...
4:14pm Mon 11 Mar 13
mary1938@btinternet.com says...
4:19pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Hathi67 says...
I hope you people are reading this as you are no better than the attackers, you never had the chain but you never attempted to stop it either your just as guilty.
I hope these thugs get caught and they should be given the same treatment.
4:42pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Horace Wimpole says...
You know for a fact that no-one called the police, yes?
Oh, and once you've stopped puffing yourselves up about steel toecaps and such nonsense, would you really be prepared to tackle two vicious blokes wielding a chain (with an injured, terrified dog in their tow)? Hmm.
4:52pm Mon 11 Mar 13
susie5 says...
4:59pm Mon 11 Mar 13
firedog says...
5:11pm Mon 11 Mar 13
RICH:;CAROL says...
5:14pm Mon 11 Mar 13
HadleighBoy says...
In this way the people involved do not know waht has happened.
5:18pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Life in a seaside town says...
6:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13
lexiofeastwood says...
6:50pm Mon 11 Mar 13
knighs1 says...
7:45pm Mon 11 Mar 13
pembury53 says...
8:02pm Mon 11 Mar 13
ilovewar says...
8:34pm Mon 11 Mar 13
pembury53 says...
9:55pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
l read a newspaper article a while ago where a group of passengers got fed up with someone on the train and bundled him off, to the cheering and clapping of the rest of the passengers!! So it proves it CAN, and was, done.
And l would imagine the police WERE NOT called, they can request assistance at on stop and the police can be there at the next stop or one after that, they do have telephone contact, so the fact that this went on for half an hour suggests that NOTHING was done, sameful.
And, they have cctv on these trains, hope that turns something up soon.
9:58pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
l hope they catch them and put them inside for a while, that should concentrate their minds, if thay actually have one that is!”
10:50pm Mon 11 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
11:22pm Mon 11 Mar 13
emcee says...
9:41am Tue 12 Mar 13
Russ13 says...
I would imagine it was a frightening experience having to witness such an event. I've been in a similar situation where a group of England "supporters" started punching the lights out on an underground tube whilst chanting rascist songs. There was a big group of us with some pretty big blokes but it was a tinderbox situation and if these guys had kicked off at us, who knows what would have happened.
Let's take the scenario where someone had tried to intervened and got knifed or beaten for their troubles or they'd given the yobs a **** good pasting. Either way it would cause problems for them and they could have found themselves on the wrong side of the law or in hospital... or worse.
10:09am Tue 12 Mar 13
Russ13 says...
Did we take a trip back into the 1800s? Hold on to your mirkins ladies, we've hit a time vortex
3:22pm Tue 12 Mar 13
aerobic1 says...
4:48pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Mikkel1 says...
Why have to rely on rail staff to intervene, when Joe Public could just as easily?
Did any passenger think to use their mobile to film the offence?
Was the train at a stand in Benfleet for 30 minutes
The structure used to block a river is spelt dam according to the Oxford dictionary.
8:01pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
There is strength in numbers, " united we stand" is a very true saying, and hopefully the dog would have turned on them too!!
9:03pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Not A Native says...
10:59pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
The people in that carraige and the ba-----s doing the attack, were all in the same scenario, those people attacking the dog were focused more on the dog than the people, that gave ANYONE in there the opportunity to pull the cord.
ln a way, they were ultimately responsible for the outcome, by their actions, or inaction, they could have changed the outcome.
There is a saying " all that it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" and it`s very true.
8:25am Wed 13 Mar 13
fruitcakegsi says...
The article said the abuse went on for 30mins - shame on those people on the train. Someone should have taken some action. Just as fear spreads, so does courage.
11:12am Wed 13 Mar 13
Russ13 says...
If it was a person/child being attacked then yes, I would step in and hope people back me up.
How many times do we read about incidents with dogs and the police are reluctant to follow up because in a lot of instances dogs aren't covered by the same laws as people.
"Yes officer, I ended up using reasonable force because the person was attacking another person" is a World apart from "Yes officer, I used reasonable force because the person was being nasty to his pet"
I'm not saying it's right and the scumbags who did this need to be dealt with by vigilante justice where a dog is concerned could leave you in a whole heap of trouble! To a point, the system is to blame.
The bottom line is, by all accounts this person was attacking his own dog, it's wrong, it's cruel and it shouldn't happen but it's not something I'm going to put my neck on the line for..... by all means get a good look at the scumbags in question and pass on as much info to the police as possible.
12:08pm Wed 13 Mar 13
whataday says...
Another staffie who probably is or will become vicious and have to be put down because its owned by morons.
1:15pm Wed 13 Mar 13
pembury53 says...
2:00pm Wed 13 Mar 13
fruitcakegsi says...
That said, we can each only do what we can. I happen to be 6'3" and keen on martial arts. However, I'm not advocating vigilante justice. The aim is to stop them hitting the dog however you can. There's always something you can do. Even if a bunch of folks just stood up and objected, I'd bet that would likely be enough. Worst case scenario? the most feeble person with no support from fellow passengers could have at least followed these thugs off the train and armed only with a mobile phone could have alerted the police to their location.
Finally, regarding your point about the law. I can't believe that the law would not favour a person taking action to stop animal cruelty. And if it did then the law isn't worth respecting.
2:58pm Wed 13 Mar 13
Soouthchurch59 says...
A different day and different people.... and they may well have ended up being defenestrated!
10:21pm Wed 13 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
l am 66 and female, and l KNOW, because l know myself, that l would have said something to these bullies, l couldn`t have kept quiet l`m afraid!! and l would have told them if they didn`t stop l`d call the police.
Too many in the uk are apathetic, they moan a lot between themselves, but when an opportunity presents itself to say or do something they do NOTHING.
8:28am Thu 14 Mar 13
pembury53 says...
9:05am Thu 14 Mar 13
uncle_jarvis says...
Worst case, and not an unlikely scenario, is you intervene and get a blade in your stomach.
3:12pm Thu 14 Mar 13
fruitcakegsi says...
With regard to your point, then sure if you choose to intervene directly (i.e. physically), then there's always a chance it could 'go south' (I had someone pull a gun on me once) but you never know and that's a risk that I would personally take. I simply couldn't live with the guilt of turning the other cheek when a person/animal is in trouble. But I guess the message is that each scenario is different but there's always something folks can do, especially if it's a group.
12:20am Fri 15 Mar 13
Kels1001 says...
8:12am Fri 15 Mar 13
pembury53 says...