crackerchalk
Inactive User
Fake vet Len French made a pistol-type shape with his thumb and fingers and explained how he put dogs down.
"I put 'em down with a .22 pistol - and I just give 'em a bit of food on the floor and give a good old bang."
I felt slightly sick as I asked him how much he would charge me for this service.
"About 20 quid - that's what I charge to put 'em down."
I was under-cover in a remote bit of rural Lincolnshire, secret camera whirring away and face-to-face with a bogus vet who had potentially duped hundreds of animal owners over many years.
Just a few minutes earlier, Len "Ginger" French had sold me illegal and potentially dangerous animal medicines over a fence.
Many animal medicines can only be prescribed by a vet registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Looking the part
Passing yourself off to the public as a vet when you're not and selling these kinds of prescription-only medicines are serious crimes, punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 and up to two years in prison. French was jailed for 12 months at Lincoln Crown Court.
During the previous few months, I had built up a mass of evidence from numerous sources that Len French - nicknamed "Ginger" because of his hair - was at the centre of a potentially dangerous and illegal black market. But the only way to find out for sure was to go undercover.
When I arrived and saw Len French, a vicious-looking Alsatian growled at me through some fencing
Bogus vet jailed
First off, I borrowed a cute little cross terrier/Labrador called Elly from a local dogs' home. Nothing was going to happen to her, but I needed to look the part.
Next, I contacted Len French on the phone - using a false name. I told him Elly was very ill - bleeding heavily at the teats.
I described the fictitious symptoms to him and we arranged to meet up the following morning.
It seemed like an eternity to drive to French's farmhouse in Lincolnshire - windy remote roads endlessly merging into other ones, fields, dykes and farmhouses flashing past my car window.
'Boasts'
When I arrived and saw Len French, a vicious-looking Alsatian growled at me through some fencing.
"Is he gonna bite me if I come in?" I asked the so-called vet.
This fake vet was about to sell me an illegal and potentially dangerous antibiotic
"He would, he'd kill ya, not bite ya, he'd kill ya," French informed me.
For a man who claimed to be a vet, this was hardly customer service.
He boasted of how he was registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons - ironic because just days before I had confirmed with that very same organisation that this man was not, and never had been, a vet.
Now this fake vet was about to sell me an illegal and potentially dangerous antibiotic.
I handed over £20 and he disappeared into a shed in the back of his garden before re-emerging with two silver strips of tablets he claimed would treat Elly's bleeding teats.
"One tablet, twice a day, for five days," he advised me. "You want one strip a week."
'DIY vaccinations'
I secretly recorded French on three occasions, returning to his farm house over three days, each time with further requests for the "desperately ill" Elly and other fictitious dogs.
Most surprising was the blatant way French treated animals in front of me. I recorded him vaccinating various dogs and giving them tablets against diseases.
At one point he even tried to explain to me how I could perform a DIY vaccination on a dog he had banged quite roughly onto a farm gate.
"Grab the dog and put the needle under the skin," he said ruffling the fur of the slightly scared-looking little border terrier. "Just put the needle underneath there, underneath your thumb going down towards the tail."
After the secret filming was over, I extensively researched the vaccinations and antibiotics he sold me.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate advised me they had all been illegally imported from abroad.
Very worrying, said the vets I consulted, as even if they were injected properly it was far from certain the medicines would work at all against the specific strains of animal diseases like leptospirosis - a disease which affects the liver and kidneys.
Vets 'horrified'
Later, I handed over those illegal drugs to investigators from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The evidence, along with the secret filming, subsequently formed a key part of the prosecution against French.
There's great worry that vaccinations administered by a man who told people he was a vet may not have even worked
When I showed the footage to professional vets - they were horrified.
Since the broadcast, other dog owners who were duped by Len French have come forward.
There's great worry, even now, that vaccinations administered by a man who told people he was a vet may not have even worked.
Defra has referred to the case as one of the more significant ones they have tackled of its kind. French had been operating as a bogus vet and selling illegal medicines on a large commercial scale for many years.
I tried several times to contact Len French for an interview but he never responded.
When I sent him a letter outlining all the serious allegations against him - he opened it, but then sent the letter back to me at the BBC, with no answers.
"I put 'em down with a .22 pistol - and I just give 'em a bit of food on the floor and give a good old bang."
I felt slightly sick as I asked him how much he would charge me for this service.
"About 20 quid - that's what I charge to put 'em down."
I was under-cover in a remote bit of rural Lincolnshire, secret camera whirring away and face-to-face with a bogus vet who had potentially duped hundreds of animal owners over many years.
Just a few minutes earlier, Len "Ginger" French had sold me illegal and potentially dangerous animal medicines over a fence.
Many animal medicines can only be prescribed by a vet registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Looking the part
Passing yourself off to the public as a vet when you're not and selling these kinds of prescription-only medicines are serious crimes, punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 and up to two years in prison. French was jailed for 12 months at Lincoln Crown Court.
During the previous few months, I had built up a mass of evidence from numerous sources that Len French - nicknamed "Ginger" because of his hair - was at the centre of a potentially dangerous and illegal black market. But the only way to find out for sure was to go undercover.
When I arrived and saw Len French, a vicious-looking Alsatian growled at me through some fencing
Bogus vet jailed
First off, I borrowed a cute little cross terrier/Labrador called Elly from a local dogs' home. Nothing was going to happen to her, but I needed to look the part.
Next, I contacted Len French on the phone - using a false name. I told him Elly was very ill - bleeding heavily at the teats.
I described the fictitious symptoms to him and we arranged to meet up the following morning.
It seemed like an eternity to drive to French's farmhouse in Lincolnshire - windy remote roads endlessly merging into other ones, fields, dykes and farmhouses flashing past my car window.
'Boasts'
When I arrived and saw Len French, a vicious-looking Alsatian growled at me through some fencing.
"Is he gonna bite me if I come in?" I asked the so-called vet.
This fake vet was about to sell me an illegal and potentially dangerous antibiotic
"He would, he'd kill ya, not bite ya, he'd kill ya," French informed me.
For a man who claimed to be a vet, this was hardly customer service.
He boasted of how he was registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons - ironic because just days before I had confirmed with that very same organisation that this man was not, and never had been, a vet.
Now this fake vet was about to sell me an illegal and potentially dangerous antibiotic.
I handed over £20 and he disappeared into a shed in the back of his garden before re-emerging with two silver strips of tablets he claimed would treat Elly's bleeding teats.
"One tablet, twice a day, for five days," he advised me. "You want one strip a week."
'DIY vaccinations'
I secretly recorded French on three occasions, returning to his farm house over three days, each time with further requests for the "desperately ill" Elly and other fictitious dogs.
Most surprising was the blatant way French treated animals in front of me. I recorded him vaccinating various dogs and giving them tablets against diseases.
At one point he even tried to explain to me how I could perform a DIY vaccination on a dog he had banged quite roughly onto a farm gate.
"Grab the dog and put the needle under the skin," he said ruffling the fur of the slightly scared-looking little border terrier. "Just put the needle underneath there, underneath your thumb going down towards the tail."
After the secret filming was over, I extensively researched the vaccinations and antibiotics he sold me.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate advised me they had all been illegally imported from abroad.
Very worrying, said the vets I consulted, as even if they were injected properly it was far from certain the medicines would work at all against the specific strains of animal diseases like leptospirosis - a disease which affects the liver and kidneys.
Vets 'horrified'
Later, I handed over those illegal drugs to investigators from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The evidence, along with the secret filming, subsequently formed a key part of the prosecution against French.
There's great worry that vaccinations administered by a man who told people he was a vet may not have even worked
When I showed the footage to professional vets - they were horrified.
Since the broadcast, other dog owners who were duped by Len French have come forward.
There's great worry, even now, that vaccinations administered by a man who told people he was a vet may not have even worked.
Defra has referred to the case as one of the more significant ones they have tackled of its kind. French had been operating as a bogus vet and selling illegal medicines on a large commercial scale for many years.
I tried several times to contact Len French for an interview but he never responded.
When I sent him a letter outlining all the serious allegations against him - he opened it, but then sent the letter back to me at the BBC, with no answers.
