An actress turned dog sitter facing a £180,000 court battle after a family pet was run over has accused its owner of ‘trying to ruin me’.
Kendra Torgan, 56, is being sued by top wine critic and author Harry Eyres, 66, after his cockapoo Ebony was run over and seriously injured while in her care.
Ebony suffered severe back injuries and needed 13 screws, and a plate inserted after she dashed out of Ms Torgan’s garden and into the path of an estate agent’s car.
The case is now in the courts and Ms Torgan said she is facing financial ruin as she cannot afford the £30,000 compensation being demanded and possible legal fees of up to £150,000.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Ms Torgan hit back and claimed Mr Eyres was also partly responsible for what happened.
She said: ‘This is a case of power, privilege, and how an affluent man is using his financial leverage to crush a single mother battling illness and fighting to survive.
‘What happened was an accident, it was completely unforeseeable and to be honest things were building up in Ebony’s background which brought on her behaviour that day, and he is fully aware of that.
‘Mr Eyres was having building work done at his house and Ebony was being shifted from place to place, they were on holiday and so she was undergoing a lot of stress, I’m sure that’s why she got away that day.
Kendra Torgan, 56, an actress turned dog sitter, is facing a £180,000 court battle after a family pet was run over and has accused its owner of ‘trying to ruin me’
Ebony the cockapoo (not pictured) suffered severe back injuries and needed 13 screws, and a plate inserted after she dashed out of Ms Torgan’s garden and into the path of an estate agent’s car
Wine critic Harry Eyres (pictured), 66, and his cockapoo dog Ebony. Mr Eyres has demanded £30,000 compensation
‘He also put the dog on too much of a pedestal and she was overwhelmed, they didn’t have any recall control over her whereas I did. The day before he called me to thank me for doing such an excellent job with Ebony.
‘He trusted me, he relied on me, he praised me and then when tragedy struck, he turned that trust into a weapon, and he is now out to break me. I can’t take on him, it’s got to the point where it is not about justice for Ebony.
‘I had offered £5,000 as compensation twice but it was refused and now, I have been hit by this court case. Mr Eyres is using his wealth to obliterate me and all I have is Universal Credit.’
Ms Torgan ran her business Mrs Bones Pet Service from her then home in Kensal Rise north London for ten years, offering dog walking and puppy training, as well as ‘pet whispering’ before it closed down following Ebony’s accident in October 2022.
Publicly available court documents reveal Mr Eyres is seeking up to £30,000 in damages at the Central London County Court, including £24,714 for ‘past losses’ which is believed to cover the vet bills.
However, the case is set to run up more than £150,000 in legal costs and Mr Eyres is also suing the estate agents Dexter’s but both they and Ms Torgan are refuting any blame for the accident.
Lawyers for Mr Eyres, from Queens Park, north London, say ‘Ebony wandered into the road’ while being looked after by Ms Torgan at her home in Kensal Rise and was then struck by a car driven by an employee of Dexter’s.
Old Etonian Mr Eyres claims Ms Torgan ‘negligently failed to supervise the dog’ and also ‘failed to call the dog back one it left her side’.
Ms Torgan is a former actress, who starred in 1998 British crime thriller Killing Time, before setting up a business offering pet ‘whispering’ and ‘outdoor adventures for dogs’
Kendra Torgan outside Central London County Court after a hearing in relation to the injured dog Ebony
She said the stress of the case has caused her to have uveitis, an inflammatory eye disease, and she is currently a patient at Moortfields Eye Hospital in London as result, and she has also lost weight (different dog pictured)
She has hit back and claimed Mr Eyres was also partly responsible for what happened
Ebony is said to have ran out of the house gates while the former actress had her back turned
Recalling the incident Ms Torgan said: ‘I was coming in and I had a big bag of dog food, I opened the gate then walked in and gate sings shut.
‘But it was warped, and it stuck, then I opened up the house and she ran out while I had back tuned.
‘She nosed her way through the gate, she had been in my house 50 times, I have looked after dogs for ten years and she was the only one who managed to prise her way out.’
Ms Torgan, said the stress of the case has caused her to have uveitis, an inflammatory eye disease, and she is currently a patient at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London as result, and she has also lost weight.
She said: ‘My current medical condition is all down to the stress of this case, I have looked after hundreds of dogs for more than ten years and I have two collies of my own who are perfectly well behaved.
‘Mr Eyres empathy level is extremely low, he wants £30,000 out of me and I have offered him £5,000 twice but he has turned it down, I want the money to go to the dog but he wants to ruin me.’
When asked whether she was insured Ms Torgan said: ‘I usually paid my premium by monthly direct debit but the year before I had paid in full up front.
‘When it came to the renewal, I mistakenly assumed it would revert back to the direct debit but instead they tried to take the full amount and there weren’t enough funds at that moment.
The former ‘dog whisperer’ had offered £5,000 as compensation twice but it was refused. She claims Mr Eyres is using his wealth to ‘obliterate’ her while she is on Universal Credit (not Ebony pictured)
Ms Torgan ran her business Mrs Bones Pet Service from her then home in Kensal Rise north London for ten years, offering dog walking and puppy training, as well as ‘pet whispering’ before it closed down following Ebony’s (not pictured) accident in October 2022
‘it was Mr Eyres decision to then go ahead with a life changing operation on a two-year-old animal that is now going to be in pain for the next 12-14 years of her life,’ she said
‘As soon as I realised the error I reinstated my coverage and besides Mr Eyres was also aware of the conditions on the booking form which says we do not take responsibility for death or accident.’
Ms Torgan added: ‘As soon as the accident happened, I knew there was a golden hour to get her treated so I went straight to our vet for emergency care and she got it within the hour.
‘But it was Mr Eyres decision to then go ahead with a life changing operation on a two-year-old animal that is now going to be in pain for the next 12-14 years of her life.
‘This is a David and Goliath situation; I am being pursued by huge machines and I’m trying the best I can, but I can’t take on these people.’
Ms Torgan is a former actress who starred as a ‘beautiful assassin’ in 1998 British crime thriller Killing Time, and she was also a glamour model who appeared in a Gordon’s gin advert.
She added: ‘I turned to dog sitting and dog walking when my son was born and I was really successful for years but I’ve now had to close everything down.
‘I just can’t cope, even offering £5,000 was a lot, so I let all my clients go but I’ve never had any bad experiences with any of them or their dogs.
‘Mr Eyres is on a no win no fee so it’s no skin off his nose but he also has a responsibility for what happened.
Mr Eyres previously told MailOnline that Ebony ‘was so young when this happened and will never be the same dog as before but she’s happy and has a good quality of life’
The street in Kensal Rise, northwest London, outside actress-turned-dogsitter Kendra Torgan’s former home where the accident happened
‘I don’t think he trained her for the road, it’s as much his fault for not training his animal and for not giving the dog a good life.
‘The building work at his house made Ebony jumpy and he should have read that. I don’t take animals lives lightly in my case. I had a gate and I had wire meshing on all sides.
‘Mr Eyres chose to go ahead and have this life changing operation on Ebony, by then I was out of it, it wasn’t negligent, it was an accident.’
Ms Torgan says she should not be sued personally over the incident but rather that Mr Eyres should target her company, which was dissolved two years ago.
Lawyers representing Dexter’s say the driver was driving with utmost care and had no chance to avoid Ebony after she shot out into the street and Ms Torgan ‘failed to control the dog’.
Kendra has set up a GoFundMe page after a case management hearing was told the loser could face a bill of more than £180,000, with £30,000 damage being sought and Mr Eyres costs budgeted at £112,390, while those of Dexter’s are said to be £40,337.
A full trial is expected later this year.
In a statement to MailOnline, Jasmine Moxey-Butler, a lawyer with Slee Blackwell Solicitors, said: ‘Mr Eyres left his beloved dog, Ebony, with a woman who held herself out to be a professional however she failed in her duty and allowed Ebony to wander out onto the street and into the path of a car.
‘While Ebony was her responsibility, we have obtained evidence from independent witnesses who confirm that the car being driven by Dexters employee was travelling too fast. The statement the employee had provided is very different from the version of events given by those who saw what happened.
‘My client Mr Eyres has only ever been looking for reimbursement of Ebony’s veterinary bills. Because of the stance the parties involved have taken he has also now had to incur legal fees, and he is entitled to repayment of these in addition to the vet bills.
‘It is not appropriate to comment on any settlement proposals but as is apparent from submissions made to the court Mr Eyres has had to spend tens of thousands of pounds. No offer to reimburse him has been at all close to the amount he has been left out of pocket.’
