A BROMSGROVE pensioner who stole seven pedigree dachshund puppies worth £8,000 from a north Shropshire farm has been jailed.

Former dog breeder David Burdis had grabbed the three-month old dogs from a shed when he and another man called at the farm near Wem.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday, (August 27), Burdis, who was found guilty of theft following a trial, was jailed for 12 months.

Judge Jonathan Gosling said that the 68-year-old had known the puppies were of a “very high value” and that “there was a market of very high value for them.”

Burdis, of Rigby Lane, stole the pedigree miniature dachshund puppies from the farm run by Marcia Jones at The Old Crematorium in Sleap.

During the brief trial earlier this month a jury heard that it was discovered the dachshund puppies were missing on the morning of December 15, 2013.

Burdis, and another man, had visited the farm the previous day in response to an advert for the sale of a Lurcher dog.

Both men were seen on CCTV at the premises scooping up the puppies from two closed plastic boxes.

The security cameras had also captured the number plate of Burdis’s vehicle as it arrived at, and later, left the farm.

Two of the puppies, which were micro-chipped, were later found in Aylesbury and Nottingham.

Burdis had claimed that he was seen by the owner, who was watching off-camera, as he moved the puppies to a cleaner pen.

The court heard that the other man seen on the CCTV images, who is thought to have picked up several other puppies, had not been found.