CONVICTED (2008) | Andrea Smiley, born 08/01/1980, of Blackstoun Oval, Paisley PA3 1LR – left her pet German shepherd to starve to death in her abandoned flat.
The desperate dog had locked condensation from a window in a desperate attempt for water.
A post mortem showed Snowy had no traces of food in her stomach and had lost two-thirds of her body weight. She had been shut in a room of the ground-floor flat, amid total squalor with the door tied with string and wool to keep it shut. By the time worried neighbours raised the alarm it was too late and Snowy had already died from starvation.
Before sentence was passed, Smiley’s defence agent made a plea for mitigation. He said two psychiatric reports had been submitted showing that his client was emotionally unstable and experiencing bouts of depression which led her to self-harm.
He also said she was living in fear after being threatened following publicity from earlier hearings.
Sentence: 240 hours of community service. Banned from keeping animals for life.