Therapy dog Bailey removed from NI prison over ‘callous and calculated threat to embarrass the governor’

It comes as the NI Prison Service confirms the three-and-a-half-year-old spaniel at the centre of the row was removed from the facility due to a "callous and calculated threat".

The demonstration was organised by animal welfare group, Causeway Coast Dog Rescue, which expressed concerns about the use of untrained canines in the prison.

Campaigner Tara Cunningham said: “Our priority is about the animal welfare of Bailey and other dogs in our prisons in Northern Ireland.

"We have identified that there is no policy framework to support dogs in Northern Ireland, we have not regulation and we have no legislation and our issue is about looking at the long term projects that are being run in our prisons and how we protect our animals.”

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Bailey was controversially housed at the jail b