The controversial death of a racing greyhound caused a furious bust-up between a top trainer and stadium manager, followed by mysterious tyre-slashing skulduggery, vanishing CCTV evidence and a sacking, a disciplinary hearing was told.
Jimmy Gaskin lost his temper when his greyhound Lisa’s Charm suffered a broken leg in a collision during a race at Doncaster Stadium and had to be put down.
He said he warned in advance that the selection of greyhounds for the race would lead to some getting hurt and after picking up his injured dog from the track he shouted up at stadium managers Jack and Sarah Saunders ‘this is another one you have finished.’
Later the trainer had a furious row with Mrs Saunders, allegedly calling her ‘Miss Piggy’ and a ‘fat prostitute’.
Gaskin claimed Mrs Saunders had ‘just flipped’ and had come at him ‘like a pitbull’ and was ‘effing and blinding’.
The dramatic fallout was revealed in a report produced by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) which launched an investigation into the altercation and handed out fines to Gaskin totalling £450 at a disciplinary hearing.
Gaskin admitted behaving inappropriately, but said he was upset and ‘speaking up for the welfare of his greyhounds’ after losing £11,000 worth of racing dogs from incidents at the stadium over recent months.
Later a second altercation that day between the two took place over his dog’s fatal injury. Mrs Saunders told an inquiry that Gaskin raised a waterbowl, ‘holding it about a foot from her face’ and she told him: ‘Go on, hit me.’
Trainer Jimmy Gaskin (pictured) lost his temper when his greyhound Lisa’s Charm suffered a broken leg in a collision during a race at Doncaster Stadium and had to be put down
After picking up his injured dog from the track Mr Gaskin shouted up at stadium managers Jack and Sarah Saunders (both pictured) ‘this is another one you have finished’
He replied he would have hit her if she had not been a woman. Gaskin walked away and said he would speak to his grandfather Edward Watson, who owned the stadium, about getting rid of her and her husband.
Gaskin denied threatening Mrs Saunders with a waterbowl and accused her of ‘behaving wildly’.
Later the same evening it was found that two tyres on Mr Saunders’s car, which was parked in its usual spot at the stadium, had been slashed. Mr Gaskin’s van was parked three spaces away.
The slashed car was parked in an area covered by a CCTV camera. However, footage couldn’t be checked until after the weekend and by then a powercut at the local substation had blown the stadium’s electrics and the footage was lost.
The hearing was told when Mrs Saunders returned home that night she also discovered all four tyres on her BMW had been slashed, along with a neighbour’s car of the same model.
Gaskin denied having any knowledge of the slashing of either car’s tyres.
The disciplinary committee found it ‘extremely unlikely that the slashing of Mr Saunders’ car tyres was not connected to the accident in the race and that the slashing of his wife’s tyres was ‘an extraordinary coincidence if not connected’ too.
However, on the ‘balance of probability the case had not been made’ out that Gaskin was responsible, the committee decided.
Gaskin (pictured) denied threatening Mrs Saunders with a waterbowl and accused her of ‘behaving wildly’
The dramatic fallout was revealed in a report produced by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain which launched an investigation into the altercation and handed out fines to Gaskin (pictured) totalling £450 at a disciplinary hearing
The disciplinary hearing was told Mrs Saunders was sacked five days after the incident in January last year.
Mr Watson, the stadium owner, claimed he had given her many verbal warnings previously about her conduct and conflict with trainers.
When Mrs Saunders denied receiving previous warnings Mr Watson confirmed ‘no formal warnings had been given and no disciplinary process had been pursued.’
A month before September’s hearing Mrs Saunders and her husband were invited to return to work as stadium managers at Doncaster with substantial salary rises, it was revealed.
By his conduct on the day Gaskin was found to have breached rules by acting in an improper manner and in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of greyhound racing. He was fined £250.
He was also fined £200 for sending an abusive Snapchat message to a member of the GBGB staff in a separate and later incident.
Gaskin refused to comment.
