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Posted: 01-11-2002 19:16 Post subject: Fatal Cat Action

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=23191.html

Jilted woman killed cat in revenge
ATTACK: Heather Radley
A DITCHED lover killed her ex-boyfriend's cat and slashed his clothes in a Fatal Attraction-style revenge attack.

Business adviser Heather Radley, 33, admitted she wanted to "hurt" Ken Dawson as she flew into a "fit of rage" after they split up.

In the attack she went to his home in Hyde while he was away on a business trip and killed his beloved Persian cat, Toddy. The animal was found lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor.

Radley then systematically cut up the clothes in Mr Dawson's wardrobe, slashing shirts and trousers, snipping toes off socks and cutting holes in his underpants. She also shredded a packet of condoms, emptied out a tube of foot massage cream and cut her ex's face out of a photograph.

DEVASTATED: Ken Dawson
Radley even phoned her former boyfriend from his flat to tell him she was there.

When she appeared at Tameside Magistrates Court she admitted criminal damage but denied slaughtering the pet cat which had been killed with a blunt object.

Radley's lawyer, Karebo Lawson, told the court Toddy could have been run over by a car and crawled back to the house injured after Radley had left.

But prosecuting counsel, Paul Hodgkinson said Toddy had not gone out of the house and that Radley had either kicked or thrown him, causing internal bleeding, then panicked and tried to revive him.

He said Radley had flown into a rage because she couldn't cope with Mr Dawson's rejection. She replied: "I was coping - my coping mechanism was to hurt him."

Despite her denials she was convicted by magistrates of killing the cat.

The court heard Radley, who lives in a luxury loft apartment in Albion Mill, Hollingworth, drove to Mr Dawson's house on November 13 last year, three days after they had a row and their six-month relationship had ended.

Radley persuaded a friend of Mr Dawson who was looking after the cat and unaware of the relationship break-up, to let her into the property in Hyde, saying she needed to collect some clothes.

When the friend returned four hours later she was horrified to discover the cat's body on the floor. She called police who took the dead cat away to be examined by an RSPCA vet.

During the hearing Radley said the cat had been fine when she left the house.

She said: "I don't understand what happened but I didn't kill the cat.

"I regret everything I have done and wouldn't do it again but I was so upset because he was being so horrible."

Mr Dawson - who described his "utter devastation" on hearing of his cat's death - told the court how he had "panicked" when he discovered his ex-girlfriend was at his home.

The 40-year-old electronics engineer, said: "I was concerned because of her actions historically with the cat.

"The cat would never go near her - he would be fearful, shake or leave the room whenever she was around.

After the verdict he added: "I knew she had done it. I am over the moon she has been found guilty. I had Toddy since he was a kitten, so I was very attached to him."

RSPCA inspector Paul Heaton said: "It has taken a year to resolve this case but I am very pleased with the result.

"No animal deserves to be treated like that."

The hearing was adjourned for sentence.

Posted: 01-11-2002 20:16 Post subject:

At first I thought James was commenting on Oll and Ethelred's duel . . .

Seriously, it's awful that an innocent animal should bear the brunt of someone's rage . . .

Carole

Posted: 01-11-2002 20:16 Post subject:

Ick.

I'd just personally like to say I hope that woman gets put away for a while. It's horrible what some people will do, but beat a cat to death! Mad

That's just cruel.

Posted: 01-11-2002 20:20 Post subject:

Local news here a couple of weeks ago was about a cat found that had been given hallucinogenics. The poor thing had an incredibly high temperature was terrified by whatever it was hallucinating. They gave it sedatives and cool baths, but it died after a couple of hours. Last thing I heard was they were checking for any similar occurences. I offered my services with a baseball bat, if someone wouldn't mind holding my coat.

Posted: 04-11-2002 23:19 Post subject:

I'd be more than happy to hold your coat, Helen, just so long as you let me have a few swings of that bat.

Posted: 04-11-2002 23:32 Post subject:

Damned woman! sorry I'm shaking here, that is just appaling. sorry I'm gonna hafta leave the boards now nite.

Posted: 06-11-2002 02:50 Post subject:

Just to even things up, here is a matching horror tale about a
bloke who microwaved his girlfriend's doggie:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_698459.html?menu=news.weirdworld.badtaste

Man accused of microwaving girlfriend's dog
A man has been arrested in the US after allegedly microwaving his girlfriend's dog.
Police say Everette S Howze of Springfield, Illinois, was jealous of the amount of attention his girlfriend was giving the pet.
According to State Journal-Register he is being held in the Sangamon County Jail where he is facing a possible charge of animal abuse-aggravated cruelty.
The police were called to Howze's home by his girlfriend. When they arrived, they found a pillowcase on the front porch that contained the remains of a small brownish-black dog.
Witnesses told police that Howze, 41, tied a blue bag around the dog's neck, put the live animal in the microwave and then turned on the oven.
The police report says officers examined the microwave, and found evidence that seemed to indicate the dog had been put inside the oven.
Howze was not at home when police arrived, but contacted authorities when he heard that officers were looking for him.
Story filed: 15:45 Monday 28th October 2002
Sad

Posted: 21-11-2002 14:24 Post subject:

No matter how "horrible" he was being, I'd say he had pretty good reason to be if she was such a bitch as to kill a defenceless animal just because she'd been rejected.

How anyone could do that is beyond me.

Posted: 21-11-2002 14:27 Post subject:

If he was that horrible, she should have rescued the poor animal from him.

No, there are far better methods of revenge, like the wife who distributed her errant husband's vintage wine collection on the doorsteps of neighbours with their morning milk . . .

Carole

Posted: 04-12-2002 13:59 Post subject:

reminds of when I was walking down South End in Croydon, and a couple of teenagers, maybe 15-16yrs, came charging down the road in my direction. One of them made a deliberate detour to the side of the pavement so he could boot a pigeon with a massive, swinging kick as he ran. The bird was propelled into the road and flapped around wildly, obviously seriously injured.

Even the kid's mate asked him what the hell he thought he was doing, and soon a number of people had surrounded him and started threatening to "give you a taste of your own medicine".

The funny thing is, I doubt it would have provoked such a vigilante response if the kid had attacked a pensioner or something.

Posted: 04-12-2002 17:21 Post subject:

That's quite a heartening story Conners. And in my hometown too, of which I had previously dispaired. What became of the pigeon?

Posted: 04-12-2002 18:06 Post subject:

as I walked off beak, someone was trying to pick it up, while it flailed about with one wing obviously broken / completely out of place. Funnily enough, at the time there was a vet's right outside where the incident took place (this was on the restaurant strip where these days you can find the Duke's Head and the Syklark), and people were talking about taking it in there. Rather doubt it got more than the last rites in there though.