Controversial Labour Party donor and owner of the Grade II-listed Leslie Arms faces sentencing later this month
Anwar Ansari, the millionaire developer based at Coombe Farm, has been found guilty of six charges relating to his giant Turkish Kangal dogs, which were seized by police after they got loose and killed a neighbour’s hens and attacked another dog in Lloyd Park last year.
Out of control: two of the three Kangal guard dogs, as video’d in a neighbour’s garden last year
Kangals are large, Anatolian dogs, originally used by Turkish shepherds to guard their flocks.
Kangals can stand nearly three feet tall at the shoulder – a typical pet labrador is perhaps just two-thirds that size. If a Kangal stands on their hind legs, they are often taller than an average height person.
An eye-witness who saw the attack last year said, “Those dogs are a menace. They are out of control and it’s lucky that someone hasn’t yet been killed.”
Ansari’s Kangals got out of their compound in July 2023, breaking into a neighbouring garden where they killed three hens and then headed off into Lloyd Park.
There, they chased after a jogger and attacked another dog before being caught by their owners and were later taken away by the police.
Not guilty plea: Anwar Ansari faced six charges relating to the Kangals being out-of-control
The incident was not the first time that Ansari’s dogs had got loose, to terrorise other park users, including joggers and dog-walkers.
And it was not the first time that the dogs had been confiscated by the police, who had taken them in in March 2023, returning them to their owner on the basis that he would meet certain conditions to manage them under an “acceptable behaviour contract”.
In the past, Ansari has said that the dogs are owned by his company, rather than him persoanlly, and that they are “working dogs rather than pets and require additional security and other welfare”.
He said that the dogs were walked three times a day. “They are well cared for,” he said.
He also said that after the previous incident in March 2023, his company had “worked with the police to put in place all recommended enclosures and security to prevent the dogs causing any distress or damage to other residents or the public.
“The police were satisfied that the dogs were securely and responsibly being kept on the estate and did not pose any danger,” Ansari said last year.
Ansari’s trial was held at Willesden Magistrates Court at the end of November, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Ansari faced six separate charges, two for each dog, of being “the owner of a dog dangerously out of control” and of “the owner of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury”.
Such charges can carry a maximum three-year jail sentence, although it is more common for those found guilty to face hefty fines and restrictions on their abilities to own animals.
He was found guilty and released on unconditional bail, with the sentencing hearing set for December 19.
Any sentence is likely to consider Ansari’s culpability in his dogs’ attacks, the damage they caused, and any previous disqualifications.
Ansari has been a sometimes controversial figure in Croydon political circles for more than a decade, having chaired his Constituency Labour Party, funded and hosted an election victory party in 2014 after Labour won control of Croydon Town Hall, and provided financial support for Yvette Cooper’s failed party leadership campaign.
He has also been a frequent and generous donor to local charities and religious groups. He is the president of the Croydon Federation of Mosques.
Tall order: the bear-like Kangal is derived from Anatolian shepherds’ guard dogs
With assets said to be worth £80million, Ansari’s business interest include AA Homes and Housing, which has used permitted development rules to convert several office buildings in and around Croydon town centre into blocks of flats.
Ansari also owns the Grade II-listed Leslie Arms on Lower Addiscombe Road. Closed as a pub more than 20 years ago – long before the developer acquired it – Ansari has faced calls from the Victorian Society to sell to another owner who might be more likely to finish the restoration work and bring the building back into public use.
Ansari’s ownership of Coombe Farm has also proved controversial, as he has developed the site in the Addington Hills into a mix of residential properties, offices and a mosque.
Ansari did not respond to Inside Croydon’s request for a comment.
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