Two men hang dog in attic to save on vet bill

Created: 03/09/2014 (Dog World Newspaper)

Two men hang dog in attic to save on vet bill

TWO MEN killed a Collie cross by hanging it from a rope at a house in Wiltshire because its owner did not want to pay to have it put down, a court has heard.

Jon Allen, 27, and Paul Brown, 52 pleaded guilty to jointly causing suffering to the dog, Shandy.

The dog’s owner, Veronica Reid, 42, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the hanging at her home in Woolpack Meadows, Trowbridge.

Salisbury magistrates adjourned sentencing until September 15.

Sarah Wood, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Reid inherited the dog from an ex-boyfriend and looked after it with the help of her daughter.

She said Allen, also of Woolpack Meadows, and Brown, of Okehampton Road, Exeter, visited a vet in Trowbridge in January to ask about having the dog put down because of its behaviour.

The vet told them they would need to bring in the dog to be assessed the following day, but noted they appeared concerned at the financial cost, she said.

Ms Wood said: "Instead, the three defendants took matters into their own hands. And, the prosecution say, at the instigation and encouragement of Miss Reid decided to hang the dog the next day.”




Slow death

She said it was hoisted by a rope noose around its neck and hanged from the attic; it took between five and ten minutes to die.

Brown checked to see if the dog was dead by punching and kicking it on its head, she said. It was then buried in the garden. The RSPCA found out about the killing after Reid told a neighbour how they got rid of the dog. She said there was a dispute between Allen and Brown as to which of them physically hoisted the dog, but both accepted being there and knowing what was going to happen.

Nick Redhead, mitigating for Reid, called it ‘an extraordinary set of circumstances’. The dog’s temper had deteriorated, he said, and it had bitten visitors to Reid’s home and had to be kept in a cage a lot of the time.

"Everyone in the household was frightened of it,” he said.

Mr Redhead said Reid had made enquiries with the RSPCA about rehoming the dog but because it had been aggressive ‘rehoming slips down the league table of possibilities’.

He said the cost of having the dog put down had swayed their decision, as Reid felt it was beyond her finances’.
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Sick, sick, sick!!! Why didn't they give it over to the RSPCA to be put down? Here they will put it down for free if you don't have the money.

Omg disgusting people. How can doing something like that even cross someones mind.