Suicide woman’s family slam ‘bullying’ RSPCA: It’s run like a paramilitary group, says whistleblower officer’s angry stepfather
- Miss Aubrey-Ward helped The Mail on Sunday reveal the charity destroyed thousands of animals
- Whistleblower’s family believe animal charity is partly responsible for her death
By Lynne Wallis and Simon Murphy
PUBLISHED: 21:03 GMT, 19 October 2013 | UPDATED: 10:54 GMT, 21 October 2013
The family of an RSPCA whistle-blower who committed suicide have spoken for the first time about her death, launching a blistering attack on the charity and calling on it to ‘stop bullying people’.
Animal welfare officer Dawn Aubrey-Ward, 43, took her own life after publicly accusing the RSPCA of needlessly killing thousands of healthy animals.
An inquest heard this week how the mother-of-four was discovered dead at home, just five months after she helped reveal in The Mail on Sunday that the charity had destroyed 53,000 animals in a year. Her family say the RSPCA is partly responsible for her death.
Miss Aubrey-Ward had spoken out after she left her job when she was accused of stealing a tortoise. She had claimed the animal was an unwanted pet which she had taken home to look after.
Miss Aubrey-Ward’s stepfather, Michael Newport, said: ‘They treated her very, very badly.
‘If Dawn had been allowed to pursue her career with the RSPCA, which had been her childhood dream, I don’t think she would have gone down the road she did. If they had left her alone, she would have had a happy life.’
Mr Newport, a parish councillor, added: ‘I feel very strongly that she was badly treated by the RSPCA. They behave like a paramilitary organisation. They have to stop bullying people.’
Mr Newport, who is married to Miss Aubrey-Ward’s mother, Jean, is sad that his twice-divorced step-daughter did not live to witness the torrent of criticism that the RSPCA received following her decision to become a whistleblower.
‘She would have wallowed in all the well-deserved bad publicity surrounding the charity since she blew the whistle on them in The Mail on Sunday. Hearing that the Charity Commission is investigating them would have made her very happy.’
According to her family, Miss Aubrey-Ward dreamed of becoming an RSPCA inspector all her life
Jean Newport, 64, of Stoke St Mary, Somerset, said: ‘Dawn was extremely distressed because lots of nasty things were said about her.
‘She had loved animals ever since she was a tiny child, and would go without food herself to feed her animals when she was broke.
‘Becoming an RSPCA inspector was a dream come true. She was over the moon when she qualified in 2008.’
Miss Aubrey-Ward, who was found hanged at her home in Matlock, Somerset, in May, strongly disagreed with her employer’s policy of putting down animals that couldn’t easily be re-homed.
Her mother said: ‘It was OK if the animals were very sick or too traumatised to be pets, but it wasn’t just those animals that died.
Dawn once received an RSPCA commendation for abseiling down a Cornish cliff face to rescue a stranded sheep
The 44-year-old animal lover was treated ‘very badly’ by the charity according to her family who have accused them of bullying
‘She told me lots of horrible stories, and got very angry and upset.
‘The job wasn’t what she had expected it to be, and her idea of animal welfare was very different to that of the RSPCA. She found it tough, and when she didn’t agree with what was going on she had to speak her mind. She stuck to her principles and that made her unpopular.’
Mrs Newport said her daughter had been ‘devastated’ by some of the Twitter comments from ex-colleagues following the whistleblowing episode.
‘She was particularly distressed by one posting which said she didn’t care for her own animals, which she felt put a question mark over her as an animal lover. It was rubbish, but she took it to heart.
‘Life will never be the same without Dawn. She was such a lovely, caring clever young woman. I can’t get used to her being gone. It just doesn’t seem real.’
The inquest heard how Miss Aubrey-Ward had been suffering from depression after her partner, Rob Colclough, had taken his own life in October 2011.
She had also been experiencing financial difficulties and had issues with alcohol.
After her disclosures last December, the charity released a statement saying she was ‘merely a disgruntled former employee’ and suggesting she was motivated by malice.
Asked if she believed her daughter’s treatment at the hands of the RSPCA could have contributed to her suicide, Mrs Newport said: ‘We will never know. I’m not going to get into an argument with the RSPCA – they are much bigger than I am.’
The RSPCA said: ‘Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Dawn Aubrey-Ward. Her death and the circumstances surrounding it are tragic and it would not be appropriate for us to comment further.’
The comments below have been moderated in advance.
bagmonster, brighton, 3 months ago
I hope they are being investigated by the charities commission and I hope they get struck off. This organisation is no charity.
TomGreen, Wigan, United Kingdom, 3 months ago
I would certaInly recommend any dog lovers wth money or property to leave to charity consider first that much money collected by the RSPCA is used for hugely political aims; second that their running costs are astrononomical; bujt third and most importantly, they lie far behind many organisations in supplying good dog care. Many local Rescues and such as The Dogs Trust never kill a dog out of convenience, but make real efforts to sure sick animals, to find homes for older dogs, and to retran and find homes for others. We don’t any longer need a charity that simply puts a picture of a pretty dog in the local news, takes donations and spends the money on other than dog care.
katiemouse, bristol, 3 months ago
Thats fine then RSPCA- you bully away at those who try to do their best but you will be doing it without my support in future.
Dawn brought valid concerns to the notice of both RSPCA and the public, the RSPCA’s response was to issue a statement that she was a disgruntled employee and motivated by malice, the fact was she was motivated by concerns of how the charity works, the charity, by issuing the statement confirmed that she was right to raise those concerns publicly. The charities response to any criticism is either remove it from public view, as they’ve attempted to do with the report released by a trustee, and/or issue a statement denying and/of attempting to discredit the author, rather than confront the problem the charity turns in on its closes ranks, and buries its head in the sand. It’s clear as time matches on that there are real problems in the way the RSPCA operates and conducts its is self. RSPCA needs to look at its falling membership to see there’s problems withe them selves, RSPB for example, which have healthy memberships aren’t embroiled almost daily in fire fighting exercise!
The way. She was intimidated by drive byes,the threatening phone calls,people have no idea the campaign against her,not just dawn though but the people she tried to help,she told me the people need help to look after their animals most of the time,not prosecuting,dawn wasn’t the first,and if they are allowed to carry on like a private police force she won’t be the last,I get sick of people writing letters and saying what would the animals do with out them,people should be made aware that there are hundreds of us in rescue,local branches do work with us and help the animals but their hq is a monster run by a failed lib dem mp and his cronies,surely some of them have a conscience .if any ex employees have information that could be helpful in changing it from the top down please contact the mail.don’t let dawns and the other peoples passing be in vane.
tynes, oxford, 3 months ago
About time the “Royal” bit was removed and the organisation disbanded. I gave up donating to them years ago. Animal welfare is just a small sideline to their suspect politics today.
sammited, birmingham, United Kingdom, 3 months ago
shameful
This is not a charity, not when the boss gets paid nearly the same as a doctor and more than an MP. I know they put animals down after 7 days or so, as a school pupil was working there for work experience and left after 3 or 4 days because they could not take the cruelty. The only good thing they do is get people prosecuted for cruelty, otherwise they are not on my list of charities….
rspcaanimalcruelty 
My respect for the RSPCA has been much reduced in these past few years, I haven’t donated to them for years and this case only confirms it.
SirJohn, London, 3 months ago
Nothing about the RSPCA surprises me any more. From a welfare charity to a pseudo police force with big expensive headquarters, obsessing over prosecutions and political campaigns whilst destroying thousands of unwanted but healthy animals. Give your money to another charity instead, like the Dogs Trust.