Banned: Anwar Ansari faced six charges relating to the Kangals being out-of-control
Anwar Ansari, the controversial property developer based at Coombe Farm in the Addington Hills, has been ordered to pay more than £65,000 in compensation and costs after being found guilty on six charges related to attacks in Lloyd Park by his three large Turkish Kangal guard dogs in July 2023.
Ansari, 67, the owner of the AA Homes residential property business, including the listed Leslie Arms in Addiscombe, is now banned from owning dogs for 10 years.
Ansari’s dogs had escaped their compound at Coombe farm and run amok, terrorising neighbours who were trapped in their home as they watched their pet hens being savaged to death in their garden. The dogs went on to attack another dog in Lloyd Park and bit a jogger, Neil O’Rourke, leaving him with facial scars.
Scarred: Neil O’Rourke says he was the jogger attacked by Ansari’s dogs
Ansari had 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.
The courts ordered the Ansari to pay £13,000 in compensation to the victims and £52,410.00 for the Metropolitan Police’s kennel and veterinary costs.
A police spokesperson said: “This was a shocking incident and would be terrifying for anyone in the vicinity and something the police take very seriously.”
The Met’s Chief Inspector Ryan Holliday said: “I would like to thank any member of the public who witnessed and or came forward to assist the police.
“This highlights the seriousness and financial burden on dog investigations.”
Kangals are large, Anatolian dogs, said to have been used by Turkish shepherds to guard their flocks.
The pack attack in Lloyd Park was not the first time that Ansari’s dogs had got loose, to terrorise other park users. 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”.
Out of control: two of the three Kangal guard dogs, as video’d in a neighbour’s garden during the July 2023 attack
Ansari had 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.
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.
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.
Read more: Addiscombe’s Grade II-listed Victorian pub ‘at immediate risk’
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
