James Andrew Marchant was banned from keeping animals for 10 years after a dog named Boomer was filmed being thrown over a six-foot-high garden gate in Bristol. He pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates Court on 24 June, and the court also dealt with a second animal welfare case tied to the same address.
Boomer weighed just 2kg when vets examined him. He later gained weight in RSPCA care and was re-homed by the charity a month later, a sequence that shows the case did not end with the court hearing.
Privet Drive in Bristol
Marchant, 42, lived on Privet Drive in Bristol. A neighbour filmed him in September 2025 grabbing Boomer by the neck, carrying him across the garden and throwing him over the gate onto paved flooring. The neighbours shouted at him to stop, police were contacted and Marchant was arrested.
That video mattered because it fixed the sequence of events. The footage showed Boomer being handled by the neck and then dropped over the gate, while the court heard from a vet that he would have experienced pain and anxiety during the lift and immediate pain from the landing.
RSPCA and Kim Walters
Clair Yvonne Malik, who lived at the same address, was banned from having any pets for five years after admitting not properly feeding the terrier. She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £400 costs and a £40 victim surcharge. Marchant was ordered to pay £400 in costs and an £80 victim surcharge.
The RSPCA’s Kim Walters said: "Animals feel pain and suffering just like we do and always deserve to be shown kindness and compassion." The charity said the public act as its eyes and ears when incidents are reported, and this case moved from a neighbour’s phone to a court order because the footage and the veterinary evidence gave the magistrates a clear account of what happened.
For anyone trying to understand the practical outcome, the change is straightforward: Marchant cannot keep animals for a decade, Boomer has already been re-homed, and the court record now places the focus on the video, the underweight terrier and the unanswered question of why he was so severely underfed before the recording was made.
