HERALD EXPRESS (Torquay, UK) ; Zoo Tortoise In Dog Basket

HERALD EXPRESS (Torquay, UK) 17 March 06 Zoo Tortoise In Dog Basket
A tortoise stolen from Paignton Zoo was found wrapped in a blanket in a dog basket at a house in Paignton, Torbay Magistrates Court heard. Leah Rowlands, of Pembroke Road, was fined £70 after pleading guilty to receiving the stolen leopard tortoise sometime between November and December of last year.
Police were tipped off that the football-sized reptile was being kept in a tank in the 26-year-old's home.
It was brought into the house by Rowlands' brother-in-law, who was living there at the time, prosecutor Karen Ball said.
Ms Ball explained: "One night in November he left the house with a bag. When he returned he opened the bag to reveal a tortoise.
"He said he had got it from a friend's house. She became suspicious and asked Martin about it and he said he had stolen it from Paignton Zoo."
The tank, which could be seen through the lounge window, was empty when police officers turned up at the property. After searching the house they found the exotic tortoise, called Sammy, in a dog basket in the kitchen. Ms Ball continued: "Miss Rowlands told them there was a tortoise in the house but it was not hers. She said she was asked by someone called Martin to look after it."
Rowlands had swaddled the reptile in a blanket as she had been told to by her brother-in-law, to keep it warm, Ms Ball explained.
Police identified the tortoise as the one stolen from the zoo by scanning its identification microchip.
They arrested Mr Harris, who answered the door with Rowlands, after he denied there was a tortoise in the house.
Rowlands admitted to police she had known the tortoise was stolen a month before it was discovered.
In mitigation Philip Miles said leopard tortoises have no value because there is no market for them.
He told the court: "What she has effectively done wrong is to allow her brother-in-law to leave the tortoise in her property. She was not involved in the intentional taking of the tortoise.
"When he left shortly before Christmas she continued to look after it knowing that he had come by it in a way that was dishonest.
"There is no indication the tortoise has come to any harm or that she was going to profit from it in any way."
Mr Miles added: "It's something she regrets becoming involved in. She is criminally unsophisticated and for a large proportion of the time she didn't know or realise what was going on, but she accepts there did come a time when her knowledge was such that she should have done something to notify the authorities."
Rowlands was also ordered to pay £43 costs.
Afterwards she said: "He (Martin) came back with a bag about 11pm. He opened it and there was a great big tortoise in there. He told me he had got it from a friend's house."
She said she had looked after the tortoise and it was not until sometime later that he admitted he had stolen it from the zoo.
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