XL Bully Owner With Fraudulent Exemption Document - NFA

Case study summary

Our client rescued an XL Bully dog shortly before the ban against this breed came into force. She paid the original owner to apply for an exemption certificate which turned out to be fraudulent. Our expert legal advice at the police interview resulted in No Further Action.

Case study

Our client contacted us after the police entered her home in relation to an unrelated matter. Whilst inside the address, the police saw that her family owned two XL Bully dogs. One of the dogs had the legally required exemption certificates but the police could not locate the correct information for the second dog from the exemption certificate which had been provided and they believed the certificate to be fraudulent so they began a criminal investigation.

We were instructed to represent our client at her police interview under caution. We obtained detailed instructions from her prior to the interview and she explained that she had purchased the dog shortly before the ban against this breed came into place in the UK because she wanted to ensure that he went to a loving home. Due to our client's young age at the time, when the original owner offered to apply for an exemption certificate on her behalf, she said yes as she did not fully understand the process herself. Our client explained that she had not experienced any problems with the certificate until now and she had no idea that it was fraudulent.

We spent time researching the law and carefully drafted a prepared statement which advanced our client’s account. She then followed our expert legal advice during the police interview and the police decided to take No Further Action against her. Our client was extremely relieved with this result and looked forward to putting the stressful ordeal behind her.