Animal Abandonment, Cats, Worst of the Worst

Arbury, Cambridge: Andrea Impey

July 24, 2011 misanthropic 1 Comment

CONVICTED (2011) | Andrea Louise Impey (aka Andrea Brown), born 25/02/1981, of 38 Nicholson Way, Cambridge CB4 2RR – left her cats to die a “slow, lingering death” while she went on holiday because she no longer wanted the “burden” of caring for them.

Andrea Impey, who left two cats to starve to death

The court heard that Impey deliberately withdrew all food and water from pet cats Tigger and Fluffy until they died. A post-mortem examination revealed that they each weighed just over 2kg each and had very prominent spines, ribs and pelvic bones. They also had empty stomachs and intestines, and were infested with fleas.

Impey was caught by the RSPCA as she tried to dispose of the two emaciated animals in a bin bag outside her then home in Ekin Road, Cambridge. She had found them curled up together, dead, under a table in her lounge.

Impey said she had the cats from 2004 when they were kittens but had been unable to afford to keep them so she left them to die while she and her boyfriend went to Wales.

When Impey was asked by the RSPCA in an interview why she had not asked for help in looking after the cats, she replied: “Stubbornness”.

She had also previously admitted that she had hoped the animals would die so she would not be burdened with them anymore.

RSPCA inspector Chris Nice, who found the animals, said they experienced “extreme suffering”.

Mitigating for Impey Jim Dignan said his client was remorseful, adding that she had “suffered as a result of this prosecution. This case was reported in the local and national press and there has been a backlash, including anonymous letters through her door, Facebook communication and abuse from people she knows.”

In response to the sentencing, RSPCA Inspector Nice said: “It was her intention, and frankly a shameful one, that these animals should die. Once more a person’s failure to take responsibility for their animals has resulted in extreme suffering.

“I hope that the disqualification will mean that she does not come to our attention again. However, a longer period would have made this more certain.”

Sentencing: 18-month community order, costs of £200; five-year ban on keeping animals (expired 2016).

Express

Cats, Dogs, donkeys and mules, Equine Abuse, farms / smallholdings, Food Production, horses and ponies, Multiple Species, Worst of the Worst

York: Pamela and Joseph Palmer

July 21, 2011 misanthropic 1 Comment

CONVICTED (2011) | Pamela Palmer (born c. 1941) and son Joseph Palmer (born c. 1981) formerly of Sheriff Hutton Hall, York YO60 – left animals to starve to death and others to suffer in agony with untreated injuries

RSPCA officers found five sheep that had died of starvation, one of which had its head trapped in a wooden frame, a lamb dead down a well, a Hereford bull that had suffered with arthritis for months, and a Hereford cow with a long-term major abscess when they were called to Sheriff Hutton Hall in April 2010

The then owners of the property, Pamela Palmer and her son Joseph, had told neighbours they came from a wealthy Australian family and appeared to be eccentric animal lovers who shared the house with a menagerie, including a pet lamb in the bedroom and a badger in the basement.

But in reality, the Palmers had neither the financial means nor the will to care for the animals.

RSPCA inspectors who visited the property found a catalogue of appalling animal neglect.

Some animals had been locked in a derelict building at the Grade I listed hall and left to starve.

It appeared someone had attempted to burn a number of cattle carcasses or to bury them in a swimming pool which had been turned into a slurry dump.

Inspectors also found five cats in a filthy room at the mansion, along with horses, dogs, pigs and donkeys that appeared to be running wild.

The condition of animals on the estate was revealed when Mrs Palmer’s bank repossessed the house and property in April 2010.

In July 2011 Mrs Palmer, said at the time to be of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges at Selby Magistrates Court and her son, then of Rein Road, Wakefield, admitted seven similar offences.

Sentencing:
Both defendants were given 18-week suspended jail sentences. Mrs Palmer was ordered to pay £500 costs. Her son was sentenced to 100 hours’ unpaid work and must pay £1,000 costs. Banned from keeping livestock for life (later appealed unsuccessfully).

Daily Mail
York Press
York Press (appeal outcome)

Dogs, ear cropping and tail docking

Carnwath, South Lanarkshire: Ian Turner

July 8, 2011 misanthropic 1 Comment

CONVICTED (2011) | Ian Gordon Turner, born 17 June 1984, of Main Street, Carnwath ML11 – cut off a Rottweiler’s tail while high on drink and drugs by trapping it in a door

Turner maimed the Rottweiler cross, Tyson, he had bought just three weeks earlier.

Unemployed Turner, who has tattoos on his face, has a string of previous convictions and was on probation when he attacked the dog in August 2010.

Despite being left with an open wound Tyson received no veterinary treatment. A Scottish SPCA inspector said that the dog had suffered greatly in the months since the tail docking.

Turner avoided prison after Lanark Sheriff Court heard he has been attending drug rehabilitation and anger management courses.

Sentence: 180 hours of community service; 5-year ban on keeping animals (expired 2016).

Daily Record

UK Animal Cruelty Files

Monthly Archives: July 2011