Everything you need to know about Jacob Lloyd (Jake Knight) and Animal Welfare Investigations Project (AWIP)

These are the articles I've written about convicted fraudster Jacob Lloyd. He objects to them because they are 100% accurate. Most of the information is in the public domain.

1. A shaggy dog story: how a teenage animal rights extremist cheated supporters, duped celebrities and destroyed innocent lives

Jacob Lloyd began his career sabbing hunts and escalated to prosecution cons with the help of a dodgy law firm. How did he manage to do it for so long?

"Ever since I was young I have had hate for injustice," said 16-year-old Jake Knight, Jacob's previous name, in a 2013 interview. "When I was around 10 I got involved in caring for local wildlife. That led me to joining the local hunt monitors group… so all my life."

At 14, Jacob was volunteering for the Animal Defence Society, which insisted its "evidence-based and ethical campaigns" would "encourage compassion towards non-human animals". They didn't. Instead they led to persecution and criminal acts targeting a pet shop. In April 2012, ADS was tipped off by a "painter and decorator" that Animal Magic in Littlehampton was abusing animals it was selling, so he stuck an ADS campaign poster on one of its windows. He vowed to "carry on until Animal Magic stop selling animals".

Animal Magic "has a history of animal abuse", Jacob insisted, accusing the shop of depriving animals of veterinary treatment. "When companies are exposed in the media, animal lovers feel obliged to take the law into their own hands," he said, trying to justify the vandalism and unsubstantiated accusations, but claimed ADS members "remain committed to peaceful protests outside Animal Magic and campaigning within the law". ADS no longer exists, while Animal Magic is still operating although under another name. The painter and decorator appears not to have kept his promise.

Jacob defended his chequered past in a 2013 interview with blogger Robyn Patey-Johns to promote his new animal rights business, the Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency Limited. "I have broken the law because of the inaction from local authorities," Jacob ranted. "I was convicted of rescuing animals from a breeder and I believe that breaking the law furthers the cause. It is however people's own conscience that should govern if they break the law or not."

Despite his bizarre grasp of law and order, Patey-Johns hailed Jacob as "one of the country's most inspirational 16 year olds" and called him AWEA Ltd's "chief inspector", the first in a series of pseudo-official titles he took on over the years. Not surprisingly, Patey-Johns was one of the directors of AWEA Ltd.

"If people feel that breaking the law is in the best interests of the animals, who am I to disagree?" he told Patey-Johns. "Civil trespass is nothing compared to what the animals go through, and if I have to violate someone's civil rights to protect animals then I will."

Perhaps not satisfied with Patty-Johns' coverage, especially after she resigned from AWEA Ltd, Jacob decided in 2014 to write about his business.

After promoting himself to AWEA's "executive director", he wrote an article for the Dodo titled Really - fox hunting!? in which he complains about ex-Tory PM Liz Truss wanting to scrap the fox hunting ban. He also asks readers for money.

A shorter piece about badgers also tries to tap donations. In it Jacob declares: "The Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency won't stop campaigning for badgers until the killing is over." Judging by AWEA Ltd's dead website, that hasn't gone according to plan as culls continue. 

The same year, Jacob released a video of himself harassing a pet shop that appears to be Animal Magic. The person who stuck it on YouTube says Jacob subjected the shop to "years of torment and lies". The poster didn't respond to messages asking for details.

Perhaps disillusioned by pretending his company was a charity, Jacob set up a fund called Cruelty Watch in 2016. He began prosecuting puppy farmers, accusing them of mistreating animals.

Cruelty Watch files complaint against suspected unlicensed puppy farm in Llanelli, ran one Welsh newspaper in 2017. "This is a disturbing case of neglect and there is no excuse for it," the story quoted a spokesman (Jacob) after a raid by "investigation officers" (Jacob again). "We believe that the property is operating as unlicensed pet shop. It is an organised criminal enterprise."

The spokesman added the charity's investigators would visit other addresses in the town to see if any rules were being broken so they could report the owners to authorities. The charity, which was made up of two people (including Jacob), folded in 2019 when Animal Protection Services was born.

The APS website home page - before it was shut down - showed the shoulder of a man wearing a navy blue jumper with epaulettes and motifs that made him look like he had some sort of official ranking, in line with Jacob's delusion that he was legally mandated to do anything he could if it looked like it might stop animals being abused.

APS zipped through 2020, prosecuting people up and down the UK for alleged puppy-related crimes and stepping up demands for donations with each outrageous headline it produced. Puppy with clipped ears left with smelly sores at hands of cruel Nuneaton owner declared one, then this warning: Thousands of puppy dealers at risk of prosecution.

Reading APS's weekly newsletter, the charity appeared unstoppable in either bringing to justice cruel dog breeders or asking for your money. "In 2021, the team at Animal Protection Services processed over 850 reports of organised and deliberate cruelty to animals," he wrote. "Thanks to your generosity, we spent over 250 hours working in the field conducting vital intelligence from surveillance operations, rescued dozens of animals, and got justice for animals. My team of surveillance trained animal rescuers are ready to deploy once again… I want to bring more puppy farmers to justice than ever before. I just need your help to make this lifesaving work possible… so please give to save animals today." At the same time, APS press releases were offering £1,000 for tips that led to prosecutions.

So high was the charity's profile, busts were covered by the BBC and Daily Mail, among others. APS was championed by Hounslow's Labour Party councillor Katherine Dunne. Money was donated by PR celeb Charlotte Tobin, who apparently raised £3,464 for a dog ambulance. APS also received praise from high-profile animal charity Four Paws, specifically its head of UK campaigns, Emily Wilson.

In reality, Jacob had tapped into a loophole and was, with the help of a now defunct solicitor firm, bringing private prosecutions against innocent people, winning, then claiming back their massively-inflated costs through the court system.

I asked Emily Wilson whether any due diligence was done to see if APS was actually doing anything good. I asked Katherine Dunne the same question and neither bothered to reply. Nor did Charlotte Tobin when asked if it really was her who raised thousands for a dog ambulance. What are dog ambulances?

In early 2021, Heather Young of Preston and several of her friends and family were accused of selling puppies without a licence, money laundering and other offences by APS. The Lancashire Post gleefully published news that one of the defendants missed a court hearing and insisted APS "prosecutes animal cruelty" after "intelligence-led investigations" - copying and pasting APS propaganda. It posted the phone number for Crimestoppers and encouraged people to call if they spotted fugitive puppy abusers.

The Post changed its tune after judge Darren Preston threw out the case in September, saying there was "no evidence at all" the defendants were involved in illegal puppy farming and there was an "improper financial motive… steered by Jacob Lloyd from the shadows in his misguided belief that he can do whatever he wishes, whether inside or outside the law, to carry out his personal crusade… to protect animals".

"Were this prosecution be allowed to continue," Preston declared, "there would be an affront to justice."

Heather insists all she wanted to do was find homes for puppies

rescued from farms after she'd used her own money to get them healthy and sell the dogs at cost at a time - during lockdown - when puppy prices spiked. She ordered a German Shepherd online but after the

seller went silent, started looking elsewhere. He got in touch again and threatened to drown the dog if she didn't buy it. She took it but reported the seller to authorities. "I did the right thing," she says. The authorities did nothing. Heather applied for a licence but was told none existed for what she was doing.

She became obsessed with the epidemic of puppy breeders that sprang up after seeing the dire circumstances in which some of the dogs were kept. APS claimed her mother was laundering money by lending her thousands of pounds to buy baby Cavapoos. It took about a year for Heather and the others to clear their names after APS swooped in, determined to prosecute with the help of its shady solicitors. In that time, Heather blames the stress and persistent harassment for a miscarriage. She was also forced into debt, lost friends and was sent death threats.

Parry and Welch Solicitors LLC (PAWS) and APS reckoned they won 80-100 cases in 2021 but denied some were "over-zealous prosecutions" or the team "acted improperly or maliciously". Word quickly spread though, especially on dog websites, warning people acting in the best interests of their four-legged friends were being targeted by APS, which saw itself above the law and was prosecuting anyone it believed to be selling puppies illegally.

Animal Protection Services -v- Alex-Kaye Carrigan and Elisha Brown at Manchester Crown Court on November 9th, 2021, was the end of the road for the animal rights scam. Judge Nicholas Dean virtually repeated judge Preston, but went a step further. He said proof PAWS and APS were working together was clear after solicitors James Parry and Kate Welch formed Private Prosecution Service Limited with Jacob. 

Dean pointed out that APS statements against both defendants - who were being prosecuted separately - were almost identical and written by Serena James. James was listed as an employee of Animal Protection Services from October 2021 - one month before the court case - and the sole member of APS besides Jacob, who had by that time promoted himself to "senior prosecutor".

The prosecutions, Dean said, resulted in "grossly exaggerated fees" being recovered. Defendants are unable to claim back fees unless they're acquitted. Even then, they are capped at a quarter of fees spent on Crown Court cases. Most cases stop at the lower Magistrates Court, so trials never take place and the prosecution can still claim fees. APS and PAWS appeared to rely on defendants not wanting or able to spend money on the court case. Dean denied a PAWS request to drop the case at the Magistrates Court, forcing the trial that brought down the animal rights scammers. "APS, sometimes in conjunction with PAWS, may have been involved in systematic fraud and in perverting the course of public justice", he said, calling for an investigation. Private Eye magazine questioned how many of the successful prosecutions would be reviewed. Probably zero.

A statement on APS's website denied everything, insisting it was following the rules based on advice from lawyers - effectively blaming PAWS, which no longer represented it. Since then, APS has shut down and the Charity Commission is investigating. PAWS has also closed and both websites disappeared.

Also missing from the internet and APS legal documents are the identities of the four secret trustees whose names have been redacted from Charity Commission documents for privacy reasons.

Despite the Charity Commission investigating APS, it took a long time for some of the fundraising pages on well known lottery and crowdfunding websites to be taken down. Until recently, JustGiving had numerous pages with all money - minus its cut - still going to Animal Protection Services.

Donate your birthday: £0

Ear cropping investigations: £2,905.00 Animal Protection Club: £459.68

Charlotte Tobin's dog ambulance: £3,838.72 Five Pound Friday: £1,439

Operation Predator: £5,714.50

100K for Dogs: £30

At the time of writing, the subtotal of money earned through JustGiving was £14K+. Add to that Gift Aid of £2K+ and you get nearly £17K. The APS page on OneLottery has earned the charity tens of thousands of pounds. APS also had pages on Raisely, RafflePlayer and no doubt elsewhere drawing in more cash.

I wrote to all the websites that host APS fundraising. JustGiving initially refused to do anything, despite knowing APS was being investigated. A support staff member called "Hannah C" insisted I direct all my enquiries to the Charity Commission and she was unable to discuss the matter further. It took months but finally JustGiving appears to have deleted all the APS pages, including the one for the Tobin dog ambulance.

Raisely is the only website that took action and deleted the APS account not long after saying it would "investigate the account to see if it complies with our Terms of Use and Code of Conduct, and will work with the organisation directly if we feel the account needs to be suspended – as is appropriate in a situation like this".

The Fundraising Regulator said: "Once an organisation is registered and actively fundraising, if it is then determined that an organisation is in breach of the code, we can investigate this and take further action if necessary." But then added: "As a non-statutory regulator tasked with overseeing the code, we haven't the remit to investigate allegations of fraud, or other criminal activity (such perjury/perverting the course of justice etc.)." Exactly what the Fundraising Regulator is regulating isn't clear.

In his summary, judge Dean said private prosecutions had been carried out successfully for years by the RSPCA and Trading Standards so there was no need for Animal Protection Services. At the same time, conspiracy theorists such as March Against The RSPCA, had a different spin on the matter entirely, insisting APS was perhaps stepping on the toes of giants, who used it to set an example.

At almost exactly the same time as he was being accused of perverting the course of justice, Jacob was reinventing himself. In November 2021, he founded CB Intelligence Limited, which expanded his investigations globally and his focus beyond animals, to humans.

"Headquartered in London but operating across the UK and internationally, CB Intelligence conducts sensitive investigations cost effectively and efficiently. The firm utilises an extensive investigator network to provide clients with the facts and evidence to make informed decisions. We specialise in surveillance, whether in the field or open source research."

Once again, it's just him. Nobody else. He may have known a network of investigators through his membership of the Institute of ProfessionalInvestigators and the World Association of Professional Investigators, but probably not.

"Whether you're a client who needs surveillance on their matrimonial partner, a corporate who needs to conduct surveillance on an employee who is claiming sick pay, or an insurance company that needs evidence of fraud, our discrete and professional investigators can provide the evidence and facts that you need. We bring extensive experience and professionalism to every investigation and customise our solutions to your individual needs and concerns."

This opens up the possibility of Jacob moving from meddling with relationships between people and animals to messing up marriages and businesses. With his questionable ethics and shady past, it's easy to see how it could end in disaster.

Luckily, it seems CB Intelligence didn't last long and in February 2023, Jacob renamed the company, returning to his roots.

They do say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

2. The nine lives of Jacob Lloyd: will Animal Welfare Investigations Project be the last episode in his law enforcer fantasy saga?

Childhood indoctrination by extremists set Jacob on a path of moral policing. But campaigns he created to protect pets and punish abusers were really scams to fleece animal lovers

Jacob Lloyd sped down a narrow, dusty road, diesel fumes and hot air from an open window filling his nostrils. He'd been driven through small towns decked in festive lights and blaring sounds of Christmas, streets filled with shoppers and food stalls. But there was only one thing on Jacob's mind - busting dog-meat-trading scum.

During the day-long journey from the UK, he told followers of his company Animal Welfare Investigations Project Limited (AWIP), how crucial timing was for the difficult and dangerous mission ahead.

"Thank goodness for free, in-plane Wi-Fi! I'm sending this from my seat on the plane, somewhere above the clouds, as I head to the Philippines to join our rescue team," he wrote. "By the time I land, we'll be preparing to shut down a brutal dog slaughterhouse and rescue as many dogs as we can."

On the ground was investigation lead of AWIP Philippines, Greg Salido Quimpo. He'd been updating supporters over the weeks with messages echoing Jacob's sense of urgency and spicing it up with real-time drama.

"Right now, I'm standing outside a brutal dog meat slaughterhouse," he wrote on 13th November. "Inside, terrified dogs are crammed into cages, awaiting a gruesome fate - roasted alive on skewers."

Despite their proximity, he and his team were in a predicament.

"We are ready to act, but there's one urgent problem: we don't have the funds to carry out this rescue. Without immediate support, these dogs will continue to suffer and die in unimaginable pain… We need to raise £5,000 in the next 3 days to save these dogs and ensure no animal is ever harmed here again… Right now, innocent dogs are trapped in unimaginable conditions, waiting for a chance at freedom... But I can't do this without you."

Greg, presumably still standing outside the slaughterhouse with his team, fired off an update a few hours later: "We're so close to reaching our goal of £5,000 to rescue them and shut this place down for good... Without immediate action, these dogs will continue to suffer unimaginable cruelty."

Days later, Greg posted a message saying police and AWIP raided the slaughterhouse and rescued a dog that was "minutes away from a cruel and senseless death".

As is often the case, the story doesn't end there: "Her survival depends on ongoing veterinary care, rehabilitation, and the compassion of

people like you… We've raised £973 toward her £4,000 goal, but we still have a long way to go."

Greg wasn't speaking Tagalog, but you can translate that to mean: 'give us some money or the dog dies'.

We're told the Philippines is riddled with dog farms, so it was just another one crossed off the list, with the team then moving on to the next, a job it could only do thanks to generous donors. Greg says there are 300 left and "with enough support (your money), we're determined to shut them all down within the next five years".

5x365/300 = one every six days x £5,000 = £1.5 million (£2.7 million including post-rescue support). Good luck Greg.

Enter Jacob Lloyd. Greg didn't hold back when it came to the significance of the visit, which would probably cost £4,000-£5,000 in flights, accommodation, transport and consumables.

"This work isn't easy. It takes courage, persistence, and above all, knowing that people like you are by our side. Even Jacob, our Executive Director, is traveling here from the UK to support us on the ground. It truly feels like a global mission."

Looking out over the blur of endless rice fields and hills on the horizon, Jacob smiled as he reminded himself how far he'd come since the early days sabotaging hunts in chilly Britain. He was watching his new company morphing into an international force, unrestricted by borders or jurisdictions in its quest to stamp out animal cruelty forever.

Back in the real world, Jacob Lloyd's rise has left a sticky snail trail of trolling and trickery across the web. Now he's training law enforcers in the US and hobnobbing with an elite UK-based intelligence community but still maintains dozens of webpages begging for cash to run his company.

Is he taking advantage of good-natured animal lovers and authorities on both sides of the Atlantic while making a mockery of anyone who hasn't checked his background?

The big question his supporters and 'partners' should be asking is what has Jacob Lloyd actually done to help or protect animals?

The simple answer is very little. More complex analysis follows.

Jacob Lloyd was born Jake Ashton Knight. In the small hunt and badger cull saboteur community though, he was known as 'Meatball' as he learnt the ropes from Terry Hill (Crawley and Horsham) and convicted criminal Dafydd Hughes (Wales), men notorious for their fakery, violence, intimidation and unpleasant nature.

An ex-colleague described Jacob as "a sort of energetic trainee of indeterminate gender" who was "bouncy and excitable" as he ran around with a video camera.

Snooping was one of his tasks, capturing 'crimes' when they happened, as revealed in The Argus article 'Health officials act after animal welfare video posted on website'. It described him as "an investigator" with the Animal Defence Society (ADS) who stumbled across a farm he believed was mistreating livestock. It said nothing about him trespassing on private property while filming a four-minute video of "cows and pigs standing in pens in a shed and also standing in the open".

"It was a very distressing scene," he told the paper, although inspectors from Defra found nothing wrong when they visited, suggesting animals standing around a farmyard is normal.

Nevertheless, the coverage was enough to germinate the seed in Jacob's mind, that this was his purpose. At the same time, he was developing online skills, asking police for advice, requesting FOIs and tracking down potential animal abusers in forums.

While at ADS, he was convicted of fraud by misrepresentation for trying to confiscate (steal) rabbits from a breeder. In the 2021 Times article 'Criminal past of shamed charity boss', he told the paper his name change to Jacob Lloyd had nothing to do with the criminal conviction, which he insisted was related to "rescuing animals". Some of his actions did lead to confiscations.

He met resistance from people who questioned his authority to take away pets he believed were abused. While defending himself, he resorted to personal insults, spreading unsubstantiated rumours about critics and publishing their personal details online.

Negativity towards his campaigns became too much, so Jacob created AWEA (Animal Welfare Enforcement Agency) Limited in 2013 - the first of many companies he set up to end cruelty to animals and try to give himself some legitimacy, credibility and perhaps a feeling of authority. On its website, he initially hid 'limited' so it would look like a charity, ignoring the bigger issue of 'enforcement agency' giving the false impression AWEA was a branch of the government.

His listing as AWEA's director was not Jacob's first entry in the Companies House register. That was in 2009, when he worked for Hostingthing Hosting Internet Solutions Limited. There are few details about the company, but according to Companies House, it dissolved in August 2011 and between 20th and 22nd August 2009, Jake Ashton Knight held the position of 'director general'. Going by the July 1996 birth date used for his other companies, Jacob would have only been 13 at the time, three years below the minimum legal age. To fix this, the accompanying date of birth appears to have been adjusted to July 1992, which made Jacob 16 at the time. Or were the later dates changed to make him four years younger? That's a question for Jacob and his mother, who was 12 in 1992.

If Jacob thought AWEA Limited would legitimise his investigations and gain trust online, it didn't work, with critics spotting a pattern of him creating animal welfare organisations then asking everyone else to pay for them.

Besides AWEA and ADS, in just a few years Jacob constantly reinvented himself as Animal Kindness UK, Arun Animal Action, Animal Action Limited, West Sussex Animal Cruelty Investigations Team, Southcoast Animal Rescue and, with his mother, the Campaign for the Abolition of Animal Exploitation.

After shutting down AWEA, Jacob honed his surveillance and intelligence techniques doing 'awareness training' with Prevent, the UK government's anti-extremism unit run by the police. Its aim was to spot religious fanatics before they turned into full-blown terrorists or took holidays in Syria. Taking in a teen with a criminal record and history of animal rights extremism might seem risky, but the Home Office could have seen Jacob's past as valuable expertise.

"I was surrounded by seasoned veterans," he claimed in an interview with Roch, a website that rates dog hotels. "Many of those guys were retired from the police force, and I was only 18. I helped them with their work for a while, and then this job came up doing field operations. And I thought, oh, that sounds exciting, but I was surrounded by all these old guys, and we would sit in a van for six hours a day. They would teach me things... and I learned a lot."

Jacob put his new-found skills to practice out in the woods with mates.

"[We] would go out into the night to plant tracking devices, hide cameras, and slowly build up our intelligence packages on our subjects of interest," Jacob recalled. "We would research people we would learn about online, then take our research into the field and work surveillance on them."

However, Jacob was frustrated at spending all that time and effort and getting nowhere. He felt like a pioneer, excelling in the field of unlicensed snooping, yet was misunderstood by the establishment he so yearned to join.

"I had assumed at the time that people like the RSPCA might do that sort of work, but as it turns out, they didn't. Nobody was leveraging intelligence gathering techniques in animal cruelty investigations like I was... People don't understand the value of watching these people. We're spooks who spy on the people that hurt dogs and other animals."

In reality, the RSPCA often doesn't waste time, money and effort trying to prove cases, as whatever it says in court is taken as fact. An example is Julie Wright, a dog owner from Slough whose house was raided by police and RSPCA officers in 2014. They confiscated her animals and accused her of training pit bulls to fight. After she was prosecuted, the story the RSPCA sold the public, through the no-questions-asked media was: "Cruel pet owner BANNED from keeping animals after RSPCA uncover dog fighting training camp". The charges were ridiculous, but it was the kind of sensational victory that encourages the public to donate money to the charity.

The only evidence was a bite stick found in Julie's shed and Facebook 'friends' who may have had links to fighting, but probably not. In any event, she didn't even know them. She was allowed strictly-controlled visits to see her dogs, during which RSPCA staff treated her like dirt. Her dogs died under their dubious care.

When Jacob set up the charity Animal Protection Services (APS) in November 2019, he was on a mission to crack down on animal cruelty, including dogfighting and his pet peeve - puppy mills. However, the intelligence-gathering skills he'd learnt over the years were dumped in favour of the cheaper and easier means-profiling perfected by the RSPCA. Like the charity, he could project the image of winning the war on animal-abusing bastards by targeting people with no means to fight back. Instant win.

Finding targets was boosted by Jacob's contacts; PR company owner Charlotte Belle Tobin and celebrity vet Marc Abraham.

Tobin, who once raised more than £3,000 to buy APS a 'dog ambulance', approached anti-puppy-farm campaigns and put them in touch with APS, expecting Jacob to help them out. He didn't.

"They compiled loads of evidence of puppy farming and breach of the breeders licence but APS did sweet FA," according to one campaigner. "I am also aware of another case of a puppy purchased from a notorious puppy farmer that died and the owner had loads of veterinary bills but APS again did nothing. They never took on any of the big operators because those puppy farmers are loaded and their real solicitors would have had APS for breakfast."

Tobin was pals with Abraham, who in turn had connections with animal-trading website Pets4Homes. At the time, a third of all puppies sold/rehomed in the UK went through the website. Endorsements by Abraham angered campaigners, who felt Pets4Homes was unregulated, out-of-control and riddled with bad breeders. Attempts by Pets4Homes to address complaints, such as introducing a deposit system, did little to appease critics.

Popularly known as 'Marc the Vet', Abraham invited Jacob and Pets4Homes to meetings of the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG), which he runs. Through these connections, APS struck a data-sharing agreement with Pets4Homes, where the website would send Jacob details of users connected with "suspected breaches of animal welfare regulations", so he could probe then prosecute them - further reducing the need for his unique powers of investigation. It also explains how APS, which was just two people, managed to carry out 'investigations' on suspected animal abusers all over the country.

"Pets4Homes are referring as many cases to us as possible and we are then using that in investigations," he told SWLondoner in December

2020. "That says they are committed to ending the illegal puppy trade. I would rather dogs be advertised on Pets4Homes than any other website."

(UPDATE: However, on 8th January, 2025, Pets4Homes said it did not agree with Jacob's statement reported by SWLondoner and only "referred to [APS] a select number of cases during a limited time period".)

For APS, Jacob's appearance at APDAWG's February 2021 webinar was the moment where everything started turning to 💩.

There were warning signs in January 2021, when the Charities Commission refused to respond to an FOI request about six complaints against APS, because it would make the charity look bad.

Charities have "statutory objectives and functions", it said, including "increasing public trust and confidence" in them and "identifying and investigating apparent misconduct or mismanagement" then taking action to fix it. "The disclosure of the information [was] likely to prejudice these functions," it warned.

APS wasn't being run properly and it seems likely that when the commission prised open its file, it inhaled a nauseous waft from rotting fish stuffed in-between the documents. Two months later the commission announced it was probing the charity.

In December 2021, it finally admitted three of the six complaints were about the charity's conduct, but the investigation focussed on all six.

For two years, Jacob hauled dozens of innocent people into court in private prosecutions. There was at least one victim of APS who was never told whether there was even a case against her or when they would get their animals back. The details are in Brianca's distraught posts in the Champdogs forum. She accuses Jacob of trying to pressure her into signing over ownership of the dogs and charging £20 a day for him to look after each 'confiscated' animal. They were kept for months.

"I am wondering if I pay this price being innocent what price will pay a guilty person?" Brianca asks. "I have 2 kids asking when the dogs are coming home...but I don't even have a answer for that."

Jacob worked with now defunct law firm Parry and Welch Solicitors (PAWS) to exploit a loophole allowing them to claim extortionate costs from courts after threatening defendants with trials they knew would not go ahead. They got away with it until the judge in two of the cases insisted they go to trial. When it came to the crunch, James Parry confessed that Jacob scrapped cases where defendants refused to admit guilt and chose to go to court, laying bare his instant win strategy.

Judge Nicholas Dean was concerned people were pressured to plead guilty. He explained the fees scam, with examples of the stupidly-high costs charity boss Jacob and employee Serena James demanded back from the court, which paid them using public money.

An FOI request showed that between 25th January and 8th September 2021, 23 applications for costs were made by APS and anyone acting on behalf of the charity. Nearly all applications were approved and a total of £95,182.05 paid.

In the combined trial, APS's evidence contained a meagre two pages of witness statements written by 'investigator' Serena James, which Dean noted were "identical" and not even enough to get the cases to court. "No one could properly conclude that there were realistic prospects for conviction based on the scant evidence produced by APS," he ruled.

Dean threw out the cases and his judgment shredded the reputations of APS and the law firm, which closed not long after. Jacob blamed the firm for everything and threatened to sue, but instead, PAWS sued APS and was awarded £22,000.

Private Eye magazine asked Jacob whether he had "re-examined" the 100-or-so "successful" prosecutions, but he wouldn't say.

Targets say they were persistently harassed by Jacob once he latched onto them, as if it were a personal vendetta. Court judgments weren't the end, with victims still dogged by APS's extremist followers reminding them they were animal-abusing scum in death threat letters. Jacob has been campaigning for an animal abuser registry, which would ensure these people - guilty or not - would be persecuted for the rest of their lives.

APS wasn't wrapped up until February 2024. Charity news website Civil Society quoted a 'source' as saying it closed because of "negative publicity" related to the judge's comments.

The same month, PAWS was cleared of professional misconduct by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Jacob saw that as a 'get out of jail free' card and straight away spread the news in an interview with Our Dogs website under the title: 'APS charity cleared of wrongdoing'.

While the SRA investigation is over, it's January 2025 and the Charity Commission probe is still going on.

"We unofficially formed about five years ago," Jacob told Roch in June 2024 of his ninth incarnation, Animal Welfare Investigations Project Limited. "Then, two and a half years ago, we officially registered as a non-profit."

Sometimes Jacob Lloyd forgets that what he tells people will end up online. Anyone can find out very quickly, that that would make AWIP 'officially' older than APS. There's also a different date on AWIP's website. Then there's the Fundraising Regulator page that says it first registered as a non-charity on 5th September 2024, three months after the Roch interview.

With AWIP, Jacob dialled down the prosecutions. There was one notable exception; the case of a man in Newport, Wales, who pleaded guilty in November 2023 to neglecting his dog. At an appeal in 2024, his

solicitor said the man was given poor legal advice at the first hearing, evidence was ignored and he was pressured into pleading guilty. It sounded like a case ripped straight from the APS files.

"We will always look into concerns that are raised about animal welfare," Jacob told South Wales Argus. "We do not take the decision to prosecute lightly."

Jacob used that case as proof pet owners in South Wales were irresponsible and needed monitoring and he had a solution.

"Following a successful cruelty case in November 2023, where AWIP successfully prosecuted an individual under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, we've seen firsthand the pressing need for proactive welfare measures across Wales," he said in a Penarth Times report in April 2024. "The rise in animal cruelty and neglect is alarming, and through [the] 'Animal Welfare Wales' [scheme], we are committed to turning the tide, ensuring the wellbeing of animals across Wales."

According to several Welsh newspapers, "uniformed field officers" would be patrolling the streets of Swansea, Cardiff and Newport, and where necessary, "taking animals into possession with a view towards bringing a prosecution". A hotline was set up so locals could rat on their neighbours if they thought they weren't treating their pets properly or just didn't like them. There was also a call for "compassionate individuals" to act as "foster carers" who could provide "emergency boarding" for confiscated animals.

It was a recipe for disaster, but none of the local councils appeared to know anything about the scheme. Nor did they seem concerned people might be wandering around their towns and estates snatching animals without anyone's authority, then dumping them on volunteers whose backgrounds are unknown.

At the time, Jacob was busy perfecting his LinkedIn profile, running webinars and posting news stories about victories over animal abusers that had nothing to do with him. He gained a following, including National Wildlife Crime Unit head Kevin Lacks-Kelly.

November saw a three-day event organised by AWIP with guest speakers including Special Assistant US Attorney Jessica Rock and Wayne Pacelle, an animal rights activist who resigned as CEO of the Humane Society of the United States after allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

Also speaking was Denver Animal Protection officer Rachel 'Rae' Smith, chair of the AWIP Advisory Board, whatever that is. She's the face of the AWIP podcast, a weekly show that interviews mainly US-based figures from organisations like PETA.

In a press release, Jacob said: "We were pleased to host this training webinar and welcome the opportunity to enhance capabilities across the globe on investigating organised animal crime. We will continue to support law enforcement agencies around the world by providing operational intelligence and training sessions."

In his time slot, it said Jacob "provided in-depth insights into the application of OSINT (open source intelligence) in gathering evidence against dog fighting operations" and "offered specific, actionable examples of how participants can leverage OSINT in their investigative and prosecutorial efforts".

While he has had plenty of experience prosecuting, exactly what qualifies Jacob to speak about law enforcement is unclear. In June 2024, Jacob listed eight 'licences and qualifications' on his LinkedIn profile. By the November webinar, he had 13, although was missing one of the courses he announced he was taking early in his career.

A few days after the event, Samantha Connolly posted a review on her Philzoothropy blog. She began by admitting being "a fan of Jacob Lloyd's work". She didn't explain what he'd actually done to impress her and the only things she is likely to have seen are his posts on LinkedIn about animals and rare appearances on the AWIP podcast.

"Jacob Lloyd, founder of AWIP has spent over 12 years investigating organised animal crime, with involvement in thousands of cases such as animal fighting, wildlife crime and illegal puppy farming."Twelve years ago, Jacob was a member of Animal Defence Society, trying to steal rabbits and getting charged with fraud by misrepresentation. The following 10 years were just as controversial. Connolly, like Roch interviewer Guise Bule, hasn't done any fact checking. Nor, it seems, have members of the OSINT community Jacob has infiltrated.

In October 2022, TechRound ran this headline: 'Secretive GCHQ Funded Company, TurgenSec Acquired'. TurgenSec had built a reputation for "disclosing data breaches to the largest companies (Samsung, Rolls Royce and Virgin Media) and governments (the Philippines)", according to the website. It was bought by "an unknown party".

TurgenSec CEO and cofounder Nathaniel Fried said the company was set up to "empower British companies and western governments with offensive intelligence capabilities on par or better than those used against them by China and Russia". Part of GCHQ's Cyber Accelerator programme, the company developed OSINT tools and sold the services to its target markets.

Fried and friends have become big names in their field and in 2024, formed the UK OSINT Community. They have an impressive portfolio, which is why it's odd seeing Jacob Lloyd in the list of founding members. What was his input? This idea he slipped through the OSINT safety net is surreal.

In interviews, he touts the magic of OSINT at every chance, as if he were one of the creators.

The UK OSINT Community site also has a mission statement, including a commitment to "promote legal, ethical OSINT standards to protect privacy and trust".

While AWIP was establishing itself as a trusted source for advice on investigating animal cruelty, its Trustpilot page filled up with fake reviews.

"We value an open and transparent relationship with our supporters," writes Jacob on AWIP's website under the heading 'Trust and Transparency'. "We strive to be open about failures as well as successes. We are currently rated 4.9 stars on Trustpilot, having achieved one of the highest ratings in the nonprofit community."

Setup in January 2024, it attracted 205 comments - 126 of them

coming on 29th March then 37 the next day. Many of the reviews don't make sense, as AWIP provides no products or services, merely solicits donations through publishing animal cruelty stories and their resolutions - real or imagined - with few actually connected to the company.

The lone bad comment identifies another problem: "It is a 'not profit limited company'. This is stated on AWIP's website, reviews saying it is a charity are misleading." It's an easy mistake to make, since AWIP's main income source is donations.

The statement on the company's website says it "chooses not to be a charity to avoid restrictions on its work, including investigations and campaigning". That should silence anyone suggesting it was related to the ongoing investigation.

Google reviews tell a similar story to those on Trustpilot, with 66 out of 68 created in November 2024. Virtually all of them are five-star ratings and many don't make sense.

None of the reviews on either platform are from anyone attending AWIP webinars or Filipinos thanking Jacob or Greg for ridding their community of dog meat.

"Just hours ago, I received a tip-off about something truly heartbreaking," starts Greg's email on Christmas Eve. "There's a dog slaughterhouse operating in the southern Philippines. Right now, innocent dogs - many of them stolen from loving homes - are crammed into tiny cages, terrified and waiting to be killed for meat… I've asked for the green light to start the investigation, gather the evidence, and work with authorities to shut this slaughterhouse down for good… But with our income this year already down by more than 15%, we urgently need your help to move forward."

We never get an update from Greg about the "brutal dog slaughterhouse" Jacob was rushing to the Philippines to bust, just more emails asking for money.

"I go there a few times a year to work on illegal dog meat trade investigations," Jacob says in the Roch interview. "One organisation, the Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), was doing some work on it, but it was struggling to make an impact. It had no formal surveillance training, intelligence training, or anything like that. I contacted it and asked if we could come out and learn about what it was doing and try to help them. We rescued over 30 dogs in six months and arrested 12 dog meat traders."

The people in red T-shirts in the video above are from AKF, which is based in Tarlac, a couple of hours north of Manila. Photos from the bust are still used in emails asking for donations to fund dog slaughterhouse busts. The problem is, AKF's Heidi Marquez Caguioa dismisses Jacob's claims about him helping them bust dog meat businesses: "AKF was never affiliated with or connected with the Animal Welfare Investigation Project… There are no DMT work we know of with AWIP here in the Philippines."

Heidi also distanced the organisation from Greg, saying: "Since 2022, Mr. Greg Quimpo is no longer connected to the Animal Kingdom Foundation." That's one year earlier than Greg claims on his CV.

Regardless, Jacob stresses in the Roch interview the danger posed by his employees during these operations: "Last year in the Philippines, working on a dogfight investigation, one of our people was violently threatened with a gun, intimidation, it happens. We've had people be killed before, an inspector who was infiltrating a cock fighting ring. He was killed... This can be dangerous work."

It's unclear why anyone would need to infiltrate a cockfighting ring, as it's a legal, billion-peso industry in the Philippines.

Jacob himself is paranoid about 'bad guys' taking him down: "I have

had physical threats, a gun pointed at me, and I have been assaulted in the field. But I refuse to be intimidated. My house is alarmed, and I've got detection sensors on everything. I also check under my car daily for a tracker."

In Jacob's fantasy world, anything can happen, judging by this exchange in the same interview:

Roch: Your organisation's going global, and you are attracting attention.

Jacob: It's definitely happening… For example, I just ran some training sessions for state, federal, and local agencies in the US.

Roch: Fantastic! An Englishman in America teaching them intelligence. Britannia rules the waves.

Jacob: Yeah, you know, which is great. I also worked alongside a US Special Assistant Attorney (Jessica Rock)… It feels good to have agencies like the FBI and USDA be interested in my work and ask if I can come over and help train their people.

The idea of the FBI being interested in Jacob isn't far-fetched. It could be the authorities finally realising he is a danger to the public. What better way to suss him out than invite him to your office for a face-to face meeting and who knows, stick a tracker on his car.

For decades, the FBI has warned about the threat posed by the animal rights movement when it comes to domestic terrorism.

"Special interest extremism, as characterised by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and related extremists, has emerged as a serious domestic terrorist threat," the FBI's Deputy Assistant Director John Lewis told senators at a hearing in 2004. "Such extremists conduct acts of politically-motivated violence to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes about issues considered important to the extremists' causes... 'Direct action' generally occurs in the form of criminal activity designed to cause economic loss or to destroy the victims' company operations or property."

Lewis recognised that the movement was imported from the UK and inspired by laboratories that experimented on animals. He touted "cooperation among law enforcement agencies at all levels" as a "comprehensive response to terrorism".

It's very likely the law enforcers Jacob is training are checking his background.

He was brought up in a family of animal rights extremists, so indoctrinated from birth. That led him to commit crimes for the cause in his teens and campaigning for law changes and registers for any person he perceived as a threat to animals.

With Animal Protection Services, he proved that guilt or innocence of the people he targeted was less important than the result, prompting the Charity Commission investigation. He was terrorising dog owners and breeders, who knew the consequences of getting on his bad side.

"I think the dog breeding world were scared of us," Jacob told Our Dogs. "I think they were scared they could they be next. I heard that a few times. We were conducting undercover investigations and that raised concern. The local authorities allowed unlicensed breeders... The licensing laws are there to safeguard animals. The local authorities weren't doing enough and... I would say if the state doesn't do it, somebody has got to do it."

When Jacob was 16, he published an article on the ADS website which appears sympathetic to ALF's causes and direct action.

"We have seen governments use legislation to prevent animal rights activists from peacefully protesting against animal abuse," he wrote. "These activists stand with placards and use megaphones against companies who are involved in abusing animals. Some activists claim responsibility for criminal activities including rescuing animals and arson. But did you know if you published something you saw inside a UK lab, you will be dragged to court too?"

It was 2012 and Jacob seemed to be regurgitating years of extreme animal rights propaganda drilled into him by his parents.

"Peaceful protest has been criminalised by an offence known as 'interfering with the contractual relationships of an animal research organisation'," he continued. "The question is – are these activists terrorists or freedom fighters?"

That's something for the FBI, US and UK law enforcers to decide.

3. £7,000 to rescue a single dog: the fake crises and real money behind Animal Welfare Investigations Project's phoney Philippine appeals, part one

A two-part investigation into Jacob Lloyd's UK firm, its breaches of fundraising codes, psychological manipulation and overpriced animal rescues.

Executive summary

In the competitive landscape of international animal welfare, donors require rigorous transparency to ensure their philanthropic capital is used effectively. Animal Welfare Investigations Project Limited (AWIP) is opaque and spending a large amount of money rescuing a small number of animals in the Philippines.

Online solicitation gives the company, run by passionate dog lover and convicted fraudster Jacob Lloyd (aka Jake Knight), instant access to cross-border donations. Despite his chequered past*, donors continue to provide substantial financial backing. In return, they get regular emails assuring them their contributions translate into efficient fieldwork and encouraging them to give more.

"Our supporters know that every donation is used wisely," said Lloyd in January 2025. "We've proven just how far we can stretch every pound."

Based on the analysis of more than 800 of those emails sent over two years, this statement is inaccurate.

Methodology and scope

While AWIP's official filings provide basic statutory balance sheets - reporting net assets of £11,098 and an average of three employees under UK micro-entity audit exemption provisions - they lack transparent financial disclosures, such as profit and loss details, donation revenues, or itemised operational expenditures. Because these public accounts offer no visibility into how philanthropic capital is collected or spent, this report's primary objective is to evaluate AWIP's claims through direct public communications. By auditing emails sent to supporters, this investigation aims to decipher the gap between what AWIP tells people, via high-pressure fundraising appeals and what the company realistically delivers in frontline animal rescues and cost-per-outcome efficiency.

Administrative leakage

Based in the UK, AWIP Ltd positions itself as a specialised investigative unit focused on dogfighting rings and puppy traders, with a handful of European 'operations' in its portfolio. However, recent campaigning has shown a pivot towards more sensational and lucrative emergency appeals for the Philippines, where the company is cracking down on the illegal dog meat trade.

Budget figures in the emails raise red flags about the company's operational efficiency, which is defined by the 'cost-per-outcome' metric and is a primary indicator of the long-term viability of an NGO, or company in this case.

Direct raid operations and road interceptions by AWIP and local police yield very small numbers of animals, such as two dogs from a slaughterhouse, three dogs found in canvas sacks and the odd single dog recovered by the cops.

Sent between August 2024 and September 2026, the emails show the total number of animals recovered by AWIP 'staff' in raids in the Philippines over that time was less than 15 – a little more than half a dog saved per month.

Campaign copy routinely projects high mortality rates to establish urgency, asserting that a single roadside slaughterhouse kills at least two dogs a day, or up to 1,000 dogs killed annually. However, when raids or interceptions take place following emergency appeals, the most animals found at any facility was three.

When the financial requirements for a single intervention significantly exceed local economic benchmarks, it raises questions about scalability and the potential for 'administrative leakage', where funds are consumed by the company rather than frontline activity. Lloyd insists that is not the case.

"Every pound raised goes directly into making sure this operation happens properly so investigators can move in, police can act and dogs can be taken out alive," he told donors in late 2025.

AWIP seeks specific financial targets for its operations.

• Standard fundraising goal for a single slaughterhouse raid or undercover intervention in Tarlac, Pangasinan or Ilocos Norte (three provinces north of Manila) are consistently set between £3,000 and £5,000 per operation.

• Appeals for individual rescued animals (like 'Allie' and 'Blair') publish targets ranging from £1,000 to £4,000 per case.

• Across the dozens of Philippines-based appeals, published targets for field operations and medical bills are between £50,000 and £100,000+ over two years.

The worst-cost scenario of £7,000 per dog occurs when a combined raid and prosecution appeal raises £7,000 and yields only one surviving dog (in the cases of 'Tala' and 'Mila').

When an operation raising £6,000 to £7,000 yields two or three live dogs, the cost ranges between £2,000 and £3,500 per dog.

While AWIP sets high fundraising targets, the emails frequently state that campaigns fall short of their goals. For instance, updates report raising £1,100 out of a £3,000 goal for Blair and £973 out of £4,000 for Allie. They regularly note that "very few donations have come in".

Reporting a shortfall serves a psychological purpose, creating panic and urgency. By telling prospective donors that "barely anyone has made a gift" or that "a decision has to be made today whether we can afford treatment", AWIP is using guilt to pressure supporters into sending an emergency donation. However, from an accounting perspective, these constant shortfall announcements confirm that the actual financial scale of Philippine operations is a small fraction of what the campaign headers suggest. This places realistic operational costs in the £30,000 – £70,000 range over the two years, rather than the larger sums requested.

It should be noted that taking campaign 'shortfall' announcements at face value creates a methodological paradox. If donor communications reporting severe underfunding are themselves artificial pressure tactics designed to induce panic, relying on them to estimate revenue likely underestimates AWIP's actual gross receipts. Furthermore, a total two-year intake of £30,000 to £70,000 (£15,000–£35,000 annually) would barely cover basic UK living costs for a director, let alone fund executive travel overheads, administrative costs for its three recorded employees and frontline veterinary care. This suggests either that gross donation revenue is substantially higher than campaign updates imply, or that the organisation relies on undisclosed funding streams.

"As CEO of Animal Welfare Investigations Project, I track our investigation budget constantly because every decision I make determines whether I can say yes or no when animals urgently need our help," said Lloyd in February 2026.

Data drawn from the emails point to AWIP splurging the equivalent of more than 28 months of a median local worker's income to rescue a single animal. From a forensic perspective, this suggests the overheads are high for a UK-based company that acts as an intermediary.

To put these numbers in perspective, rehoming and veterinary care costs for animal shelters in the Philippines are between ₱15,000-20,000 (£177-237) per dog for the "first weeks" of rehab (Biyaya Animal Care Foundation figures). The cost increases for animals in worse shape. AWIP's average of £2,000-£7,000 per dog recovered reflects how heavily its costs are inflated for an extremely low rescue rate.

As the son of animal rights extremist parents, there's no question in Lloyd's mind that the lives of the dogs are priceless and the end justifies the means.

"These raids matter. They save lives," he declared in December 2025. "They send shockwaves through a dog meat trade that is already weak and dying under pressure by AWIP."

That is a matter for debate, but seems unlikely. One thing Jacob does know more than anyone is the value of dog rescues in the Philippines, which include budgets for his 'executive oversight'.

Estimated travel costs - including return flights from the UK to Manila, local travel, accommodation and 'executive' subsistence – are typically £2,000 to £4,000 per visit. Across the two years scrutinised, an estimated £5,000 to £10,000+ was spent on travel and travel-related campaign overheads. Travel overheads are further elevated by itineraries during peak holiday periods, such as Christmas and Lunar New Year

Psychological manipulation of donors

To offset these expenses, Lloyd built an unrelenting machine of predatory fundraising. Authentic-sounding 'emergency narratives' are employed to induce immediate donor action through psychological coercion. While urgency is a standard advocacy tool, several tactics identified in the two-year batch of emails warrant special attention for their obvious manipulation mechanics.

• Communications include 'midnight deadlines' and ticking countdown timers to compel action. Days, hours, minutes and seconds are displayed, although they are not related to real-time operational deadlines.

• The use of binary polls, such as "Yes, I will vote for animals", serves as a 'micro-conversion' tactic. By clicking a button to affirm a moral stance, the donor is psychologically primed for the subsequent financial transaction.

• Messaging suggests that AWIP's investigators are "the only hope" and police raids cannot continue until "the remaining costs are covered". This frames law enforcement action as a 'pay-to-play' scenario, where justice is blocked until donors send the company money.

• AWIP often fires off "last chance" email warnings, immediately followed by new solicitations for separate cases. This demonstrates a cycle of artificial finality that donors apparently overlook.

The six stages of the AWIP 'urgency cycle'

Lloyd has a history of opening animal welfare charities/companies, getting into trouble, closing the charity/company, changing his name, opening a new charity/company, etc… (more information here and here) It's the same with his email campaigns, specifically the 'urgency cycle'.

1. Hour 00:00. The 'crisis alert', with template messaging like: "LOCATION: FOUND. POLICE: READY. FUNDING: BLOCKED." Mechanic: a new slaughterhouse or interception site is identified and a financial target (£3,000–£5,000) is set.
2. Hours 6–18. Guilt and high-pressure polls, with template messaging: "10 MINUTES LEFT / BARELY ANYONE HAS DONATED". Mechanic: digital countdown timers, warnings that police are standing by idling and yes/no poll prompts ("Should we let Felix undergo surgery? [Yes] [No]") are sent to drive rapid impulse donations.
3. Hour 23:50. The midnight cutoff, with template messaging warning: "THIS IS MY FINAL EMAIL TO YOU: THERE IS NO NEXT EMAIL." Mechanic: hard deadlines are declared, warning supporters that if the remaining gap isn't filled by midnight, the operation will be aborted and animals suffer.
4. Hour 24:00. The 'magic' extension, with template messaging such as: "GENEROUS MATCHING DONOR EXTENDS DEADLINE BY 24 HOURS". Mechanic: when the midnight deadline passes, an unexpected match or anonymous benefactor appears, granting a 24-hour extension.
5. Hours 36–48. The '100% funded' triumph, accompanied by template messaging: "WE HIT 100%! YOU'RE COMING WITH US!" Mechanic: triumphant victory announcement declaring the raid fully funded, praising donors and confirming police action.
6. Post-raid. The immediate sequel pivot, as AWIP extends the crisis into a new phase. Template messaging: "NOW WE NEED £3,000 FOR COURT PROSECUTION & VET CARE" Mechanic: focus shifts straight away to a secondary expense (legal fees, 'forever home', or a new raid site), resetting the cycle back to stage one.

'Urgency cycle' case study: Nepal/China/India flash floods

This catastrophic event triggered swift deployment of AWIP's urgency cycle on August 29 2026, with emails announcing the launch of a fundraising drive. Petitions asked supporters to add their name to "PROTECT ANIMALS IN DISASTERS".

These quickly escalated to financial appeals accompanied by detailed and dramatic disaster narratives, including reports of wild elephants swept downstream across the Indian border. By contrasting images of flood destruction with emotional stories of vulnerable animals, AWIP created a hook to convert passive email recipients into donors.

AWIP introduced extreme deadline mechanics and panic messaging to try to speed things up. In the morning of August 30, supporters received emergency alerts declaring that "almost no one — really, NO ONE — is donating" and warning that flood relief operations would collapse unless recipients made financial contributions within "THE NEXT 10 MINUTES".

A few hours later, AWIP abruptly flipped the narrative by announcing that "so many people stepped forward" it was setting a new deadline and closing the entire appeal before the end of the day.

August 31, AWIP updated donors in an email titled: "This is the last email I'll send you...". Readers were assured in bold capital letters that "THERE IS NO NEXT EMAIL" and that fundraising was officially ending, 24 hours after the previous deadline.

Despite the assurances of finality, AWIP reopened the Nepal appeal on September 2, claiming it was so overwhelmed with supporter enquiries that it launched a 48-hour matching "challenge fund". Days after that finished - September 9/10 - the charity asked for more money under the header "WE ARE ASKING ONE FINAL TIME", pressuring habitual donors into making second or even third payments.

Ultimately, AWIP's Nepal campaign relied entirely on artificial urgency, contradictory deadline messaging and aggressive re-solicitation tactics. While raised funds were said to be given to local rescuers in Nepal, the strategy of inventing short countdown windows and repeatedly breaking campaign deadline promises should make supporters wary.

Furthermore, with AWIP's zero transparency policy, there is no way of knowing whether all the money donated got to the people doing the hard work on the ground in Nepal.

In part two... how AWIP routinely breaks UK fundraising rules and the development of Jacob Lloyd's 'white saviour' complex.