Posts Tagged With: Dog

Guilty: Andrew Summerfield (pictured at an earlier hearing) mutilated his own dog with a meat cleaver and repeatedly shot it with an air rifle

This is the thug who shot his own dog 10 times, stabbed it eight times with a meat cleaver, then left it for dead with a noose around his neck.

Vets had to put the bull terrier down, but traced owner Andrew Summerfield, 43, from its microchip.

He faces a possible jail term after he was convicted in his absence at Colchester Magistrates Court, Essex, of two offences of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

The court heard Summerfield shot the dog, called Barney, 10 times with an air rifle and stabbed it eight times with a meat cleaver before attaching a noose and leaving it for dead along the A12.

Summerfield, of Colchester, did not attend court but the trial at Colchester Magistrates Court went ahead yesterday in his absence.

Brenda Pearce, chairman of the bench, said she was satisfied Summerfield was guilty of two offences of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

She agreed Summerfield’s actions were so serious he is likely to go to prison.

A warrant was yesterday issued for his arrest.

She said: ‘We are satisfied that Mr Summerfield was in possession of the dog at the time the injuries were caused.

‘More importantly, the micro-chip links the dog to him, which is damning.’

On July 10 last year police were called to reports of a stray dog walking along the southbound A12 at junction 28.

Sgt Arin Andrews, of the Stanway Policing unit, was the first on the scene.

He described how he found Barney with massive head wounds, with a blanket of blue bottle flies around it and maggots eating its flesh.

He said: ‘The dog had a cord around its neck and massive head injuries.

Weapon: Police found this air rifle, used to shoot the dog 10 times, and a meat cleaver at Summerfield’s house

‘It was actually cutting into its neck, causing it to be distressed and we were certainly concerned about the animal’s suffering’

Police traced the dog to Summerfield’s address using a microchip found by the vet after he put Barney to sleep.

Officers arrived at the home of the father-of-two, alongside RSPCA inspector Steven Craddock.

Mr Craddock said when they arrived they found an air rifle, which was confiscated.

But when they took the rifle out, they also found a meat cleaver.

Cruel: Summerfield stabbed the dog eight times with this meat cleaver and then left him for dead along a road

Summerfield then told officers he had sold the dog the day before for £10, because it had bitten his finger and killed a duck.

He did not attend the trial but had denied the charges, saying he acted in self-defence when the dog became very aggressive and started foaming at the mouth.

But Lynne Shirley, acting for the RSPCA, said weapons experts’ tests showed it would take 150 seconds for a shooter to fire ten reloaded rounds at a sitting target.

She added: ‘If it was an act of self-defence, his actions were certainly disproportionate.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2158020/Thug-shot-terrier-10-times-butchered-meat-cleaver-tied-noose-neck–animals-microchip-revealed-brutes-identity.html#ixzz1xtDORTCQ