A former pet shop proprietor in Harrow, North West London, hopes his criminal conviction will be quashed after a second court case against him collapsed.

Stuart Wood, who used to own Sylvester’s Pet Shop in Long Elmes, Harrow Weald, and a second branch in Hanwell, Ealing, was convicted and fined in March 2012 for 18 offences under the Pet Animals Act which included buying puppies from unlicensed breeders in breach of his Harrow Council-issued licence.

It was the same original complainant who sparked a second prosecution by Harrow and Brent Trading Standards under the Unfair Trading Regulations that was thrown out at Harrow Crown Court in mid-June when the prosecution offered no evidence.

Mr Wood was awarded legal costs of £50,000.

The married 40-year-old, of Hawthorne Avenue, Kenton, said: “The whole thing was about pedigree certificates.

“Most of the dogs were bred exclusively for us so we had a pool of breeders we would source from.

“We would get a certificate from the breeder saying a dog was pure breed and we re-registered that dog with a club that holds a database, the Canine Registration Club UK.

“Trading Standards said I couldn’t prove that the certificates were accurate and people were feeling misled.

“Originally there was only one complainant but then the council got five more when they sent out a survey to all our customers they found when they seized my animal register with all my customers’ names and contact details.”

Mr Wood’s 2012 sentence included a ban on owning a pet shop for 15 years which is why his two stores went into liquidation last year and he is now an employee at an Ealing pet shop.

He said: “My conviction is going to the Criminal Cases Review Commission because the same processes were used by the council and my barrister is very confident my conviction will be overturned.

“I’ve been destroyed by it. They raided my houses and both my businesses.

“We had sold about 2,000 puppies since 2011 and the complaints totalled less than one per cent of transactions.”

A Harrow Council’s spokeswoman said: “Some concerns were raised relating to the validity of some of the witness statements during this trial.

“The recorder noted that this was due to a staff training issue and Harrow and Brent Trading Standards will be working to ensure that all staff are fully trained to make sure that procedures are followed correctly in future.”