A Wales-based dog sanctuary owner, Anne Lewis, was due to appear today in Court 4 at Cardiff Crown Court after an application was made by her defence team.
Lewis’ defence team made the application for the case to be “thrown out” as they didn’t believe that the prosecution case was unlawful.
Yesterday, Wednesday, August 27, 2025, His Honour Judge Egan ruled against Lewis’ application, meaning that today’s hearing will not proceed.
A new trial date has not yet been set due to the need to find out the availability of witnesses.
The trial of the 69-year-old woman is expected to last for three weeks next year, 2026.
Lost Souls Dog Sanctuary, which was owned and run by Lewis, was raided on August 15, 2023, after a Newport Magistrate Court granted Monmouthshire County Council a warrant to enter the sanctuary that was based at her home, Upper Minnetts, Caldicott.
Upon entry, 82 dogs were seized by officers due to neglect, as they deemed that the dogs were not receiving the necessary care.
Monmouthshire County Council said, “following significant concern for the welfare of dogs at an animal sanctuary in Monmouthshire. This was after a significant number of independent complaints over the last three years and attempts by officers to visit, support the owner and undertake assessments.”
Sadly, after being assessed, 11 of the 82 dogs had to be put to sleep by a veterinarian who was present during the raid, leaving 71 dogs to be temporarily housed by the council.
On October 24, 2023, Monmouthshire County Council secured a Section 20 under the Animal Welfare Act after “compelling evidence saw the withdrawal of the defence with no conditions attached” during a hearing at Newport Magistrates Court in front of a District Judge.
Lewis was then charged with 15 offences due to the raid and appeared in Newport Magistrates Court. Due to the serious nature of the charges, the District Judge referred the case to Crown Court.
Upon appearing at Newport Crown Court last year, 2024, Lewis entered not guilty to all 15 charges. During the hearing, all of the charges were read to Lewis, which included all of the dogs’ names involved for each of the charges.
The majority of the charges involve several dogs.