FINLAY UPDATE - POLICE INVESTIGATION OVER - NO CHARGES MADE

First and most importantly, Finlay is still alive. Psychologically, he is showing encouraging improvement and is more interested in life, but physically there is still a long way to go, such is the level of his deterioration. As our vet has said, his full recovery will take many months. The thought of what he has had to endure is deeply upsetting, but we are giving him all our positive energy and we know you are too. As we all know Finlay is a real fighter. The vet will be seeing him again on Friday so we will update you when we can. We will also show current pictures of him when we get the all clear from our legal team.

We wanted to inform you of a significant event. As you all know, on the 14th February 2022, Finlay was seized without warning or justifiable reason, in a dawn raid by 4 police officers and a vet, who arrived in 3 vehicles. The police then began an investigation. We were informed last friday that after an investigation lasting over 5 months, they were taking 'No Further action'. We of course fully expected this to be the outcome as we have followed best practice throughout and everything we have done in regards to Finlay has been publicly presented to over a million people. We have never had anything to hide and this has now been borne out.

They had 3 officers working on this case so it's likely that hundreds of hours of police time have been wasted. The cost of the whole investigation when you include police time, costs of detaining Finlay in a so called specialist animal conservation facility, transport costs (Finlay was transported somewhere 4 hours away) etc, is very likely to be a 6 figure sum. This is tax payers money and police time that should be utilised fighting crime. So the upshot of this sham of a police investigation is that no charges have been brought and so the only tangible outcome is a traumatised and abused Finlay. That is the net result of the police efforts.

We have maintained all along that the original complaint made to the police would have been malicious and a deliberate attempt to damage our project. We now fully expect that the police turn their attention to the original complainant. It is clear that the complainant has caused a significant waste of police time. Who was it, what were their motives? There are many unanswered questions. As with everything, the truth always comes out.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales is Andy Dunbobbin. He was elected into this role in 2021.

The Commissioner has four main duties, which are to:

Set out the priorities for policing in North Wales

Decide the budget for North Wales Police

Hold the Chief Constable to account, and to

Listen and respond to your views on policing

It is our belief that this investigation represents chronic failures many of which fall under the duties of Commissioner. Was the seizure of Finlay a police priority, was this investigation a good use of the police budget, what role has the Chief Constable played in this and finally, has he listened and responded appropriately to your views? In terms of the last point, we know that many of you have personally contacted Dunbobbin. We also know that every single one of you who have shown us his response, has expressed, disbelief, disappointment and in many cases outrage at his email and the statement he links to. As you have all seen, we demolished the statement linked to by Dunbobbin in an earlier update. We exposed the misleading narrative and the omission of crucial details. In short it was a biased statement designed to defect and divert. It fooled absolutely no one and guess what, that joke of a statement has now been taken down. The link no longer works on the police website.

Perhaps the worst thing of all, is that instead of admitting that Finlay had medical issues when in police custody and that his welfare was compromised, Dunbobbin instead chose to endorse the treatment that Finlay was subjected to. Indeed in his words , 'all standards of care were adhered to'. Well we have extremely strong evidence that this is simply untrue. He also told many of you that he was unable to provide further detail whilst the investigation is ongoing. Well now the investigation is over so he no longer has that reason. It's now time for the whole truth to come out.

Many of you have asked us how to complain about the conduct of Dunbobbin. Well on the North Wales Crime panel website, it states, Complaints about the Police and Crime Commissioner should be addressed to the Lead Officer/Legal Advisor to the North Wales Police and Crime Panel, Conwy County Borough Council, Bodlondeb, Conwy, LL32 8DU or email pcc.complaints@conwy.gov.uk

It is important to note that this is a County council dept and not a police department. This is because Dunbobbin is in an elected position. It also of course means that you won't be clogging up any police systems which we hope are being used to fight actual crime, rather than traumatising animals.

As you know, we are a determined team and we will not stop until everyone who has played a part in Finlay's wrongful detention and abuse are fully held to account. This must never be allowed to happen to any other animal ever again at the hands of the North Wales Police.

We are going to need the support of every single one of you in the coming weeks, so please keep watching and keep in touch. Your thousands of messages of support have meant so much to us and Finlay, during this distressing period.

Finally we will leave you with this. The police have still not provided us with Finlay's vet records. Their contempt for him continues.

Thanks as always,

Emily (Director of Wildcat Haven) and Finlay.