Sheffield dog sex couple told conduct towards 'helpless' animal was 'vile in the extreme'

Paige Reaney sobbed while Graham Marshall kept his head in his hands as The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the pair what their fate would be during a hearing which concluded a few moments ago.

Judge Richardson branded their conduct towards Charlie their dog as ‘grotesque,’ ‘extremely disturbing’ and among the worst cases of ‘depravity’ of its kind that he had witnessed during his 45-year career in the law.

“You both owned a black pug dog called Charlie...you Reaney had many sexual encounters with that poor helpless creature that you aided and abetted, Marshall,” he told the pair, who were a couple of many years when they committed the bestiality offences involving Charlie, during a time period spanning August 2019 and December 2022.

Judge Richardson continued: “These shocking acts of bestiality were recorded.”

“Your joint conduct was vile in the extreme.

“The cruelty you both visited upon that poor, helpless dog was repeated.”

He also revealed how Marshall referred to Reaney as ‘mummy’ to Charlie the dog when the ‘comprehensively depraved bestiality’ was being carried out.

The pair - who split up following their arrest in August 2021 when the full extent of Marshall’s offending was uncovered - shared the videos of the acts of bestiality they had subjected Charlie to on a social media platform.

Judge Richardson said he believed some of the bestiality content by, and involving, Reaney and Marshall may have been shared with third parties; and noted Marshall’s internet history shows he visited an online bestiality forum. He said there was no proof of that, however.

Judge Richardson said he agreed with submissions made by prosecution and defence counsel, suggesting Reaney, aged 33, had been coerced into the sexual activity in a bid to fulfill a ‘fantasy’ of Marshall’s.

He said, that while he agreed there had been an ‘element of coercion’ and ‘manipulation,’ Reaney had ‘gone along with what was happening in a number of occasions and played her part to the full’.

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Judge Richardson added, however: “You felt too scared to challenge him, so went along with what he wanted.”

“You harbour some culpability which warrants punishment.”

He jailed 39-year-old Marshall for five years, six months.

Marshall was also deemed to be a dangerous offender, and Judge Richardson consequently imposed an extended licence period of four years, bringing his total sentence to one of nine years, six months.

He told Marshall: “You’ve wallowed in the swamp of sexual depravity, repeatedly, over a long period.”

“You were the author, and director, of this appalling sexual depravity.”

“I have every reason to believe there are acute risks of history repeating itself and you plunging yourself into the mire of criminal sexual depravity again. I am convinced you are likely to commit other very serious sexual crimes in the future.

“You are also capable of coercing others into serious sexual depravity. I am convinced, also, that children must be protected from you, as well as potential partners, and an enhanced level of supervision is demanded in your case.”

Another factor in the length of Marshall’s sentence, said Judge Richardson, were the other numerous offences committed solely by Marshall, of no fixed abode, that he was to be sentenced for, all of which he pleaded guilty to at earlier hearings.

They include an indedent image of a child under the age of 10 that Marshall took himself, along with a voyeurism offence relating to clandestine video footage he had taken in the bathroom of a private residence - but not his own - capturing two women, without their knowledge, as they used the toilet.

Marshall also admitted offences relating to the possession of indecent images of children, showing kids as young as seven-years-old being sexually abused, in all of the legal categories - including the most severe, Category A, along with three counts of extreme pornography.

He sentenced Reaney, formerly of Bowman Drive, Gleadless, Sheffield, to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. She was also ordered to complete 30 sessions of a rehabilitation activity requirement.

Judge Richardson said the coercion element had informed his decision to step back from an immediate prison sentence in Reaney’s case.

“You are capable of rehabilitation, you have strong personal mitigation and you are in the process of rehabilitating yourself,” he told Reaney.

Both defendants were banned from keeping animals, and Judge Richardson also granted a prohibition order which means Marshall and Reaney will never again be able to have any contact with Charlie the dog.

Marshall was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and both defendants were told they must register as sex offenders. The length of Marshall’s sex offender notification requirements will be for life, while Reaney’s will run for a period of 10 years.

Speaking on Friday (February 28), Amy Earnshaw, defending Reaney, suggested that her client had been in a relationship with Marshall - who is seven years her senior - since the age of 17, and had been controlled, as well as verbally and physically abused, by him. Ms Earnshaw said Reaney had been ‘forced, pressured and coerced’ into the sexual acts with Charlie the dog by Marshall.

Andrew Bailey, defending Marshall, also speaking on Friday, said his client has developed a ‘preoccupation’ with bestiality after watching a female he knew having sex with a dog when he was younger. In addition to Marshall’s ‘preoccupation with bestiality,’ a practice recognised by the World Health Organisation as a ‘sexual disorder,’ Mr Bailey also detailed an experience of abuse that Marshall endured as a child, which, he suggested, had left him in a ‘psychological mess,’ leading him to self-medicate, primarily with alcohol, but also with cocaine and cannabis on occasion.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to animal cruelty offences relating to their treatment of Charlie, in which they subjected him to unnecessary suffering and ‘habitual sexual activity,’ at earlier court hearings. Marshall admitted aiding and abetting Reaney having full sex with Charlie, and she also pleaded guilty to two offences relating to that.

Charlie the dog is understood to now be in the care of one of Reaney’s relatives, prosecutor Helen Chapman previously told the court.