#MostEvil | Anthony Cockrell, born March 1959, of Littleoakes, Penryn TR10 8QE – stabbed family dog to death during a row
Anthony Cockrell
Cockrell stabbed springer spaniel Ozzy repeatedly with a carving knife. A five-inch-deep cut severed the dog’s jugular vein and he bled to death.
Cockrell’s attack on the seven-year-old pet occurred during a family row. Ozzy began barking and growling and jumping up at Cockrell, who then left the room and returned with a large kitchen knife. The dog was stabbed with it and the police and a vet were called.
Victim Ozzy died while protecting his family from violent Anthony Cockrell
Despite a desperate effort to save Ozzy, the dog died from his injuries.
Cockrell’s now ex wife said: “My dog bled to death. It was horrendous. I still haven’t been able to get any closure. He’d had a drink and was not a very calm man. I don’t want to talk to him and I don’t want to see him.”
Cockrell, who works as an aviation engineer, claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress after fighting in the Falklands War.
Sentence: 18-week prison sentence. Lifetime ban on keeping animals.
CONVICTED (2010) | Keith Doyle, born c. 1975, a convicted wife beater and animal abuser previously from the village of Banks in West Lancashire and more recently (2021) of Hart Street, Southport PR8 6DY
On Guy Fawkes Night 2009 Doyle went berserk, smashing up his home and subjecting his long-term partner to a violent and bloody attack.
Then in an act of unbelievable cruelty Doyle poured scalding hot tea over the cage containing his partner’s beloved African Grey parrot, Jasper, before grabbing the squawking bird and ripping out his feathers, killing him. All of this took place while the couple’s four-year-old son was upstairs.
In April 2010 Doyle pleaded guilty to three counts of actual bodily harm, causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and making threats to kill. He was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, eight months of which was on license. He was banned from keeping pets for five years (expired 2015).
#MostEvil | Joel Joshua White aka Joshua Birkinshaw, born 29/08/1989, of Graig Terrace, Senghenydd, Caerphilly CF83 4HN – tormented a 10-week-old kitten whom he eventually strangled to death.
In November 2008 White strangled a 10-week-old male kitten named Pepsi before putting his tiny body in a plastic bag in the freezer.
Aside from a penchant for animal cruelty White is by all accounts a nasty piece of work who used the much older woman with whom he was living – Pepsi’s owner – for money, food and shelter. There is a suggestion that he physically abused her.
The court heard that White was bisexual and that he enjoyed taunting the woman about his sexual exploits with men.
White had bought the kitten, along with two others, for the woman and it was just a few days later when the cruelty began.
2021 image of kitten killer Joel White, who’s now taken to calling himself Joshua Birkinshaw
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman told how White picked up Pepsi and threw him against a curtain. He then put the kitten into a lampshade “to see if he could do any tricks”. The animal fell down, seriously injured, and started to crawl across the floor. White picked Pepsi up once more and snapped his neck. He then wrapped him up in a pillow case and a plastic bag and put him in the freezer.
Despite the appalling cruelty he had inflicted on the tiny, defenceless animal, White received a pitifully short custodial sentence.
As of August 2018 White runs a photography business with his wife. The latter is standing by her man despite being aware of his history of animal cruelty and psychological abuse.
Sentence: 16 weeks in a young offenders’ institution. Disqualified from owning or keeping an animal for 10 years (expired December 2019).
CONVICTED (2009) | Sebrina Carty, aka Sebrina Buttimer, born 03/12/1987, of Milner Gardens, Richmond Hill, Leeds LS9 8NW – threw a puppy off a three-storey high balcony during an argument with her boyfriend.
Seven-week-old Jack Russell Rocky was thrown from the balcony in his dog carrier after drunken Carty became enraged during the argument. Despite Carty’s wicked intentions, the tiny dog survived the plunge.
The court heard how police were called to domestic disturbance in Carty’s previous address in Appleton Square, Leeds, in October 2008.
They found the smashed pet carrier and Rocky collapsed nearby.
He was taken to a local vet who found he had soft tissue damage and bruises but no broken bones.
Carty pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy and was given a community sentence and a measly two-year ban on keeping animals.
RSPCA inspector Dave Holgate said: ‘This was a sickening case of deliberate and sadistic cruelty.
‘The puppy was only a few weeks old and must have been terrified. It’s a miracle that he wasn’t seriously injured or killed.
‘The sentence passed reflects the serious nature of this incident and serves to show that this kind of vile cruelty cannot and will not be tolerated.’
Rocky made a full recovery and now lives in a new home
Sentencing: 100 hours of unpaid work; £250 costs; two year ban (expired 2011).
#MostEvil | William David Streeter (known as ‘Dave’), born 28/06/1979, of Cloyfin Park, Coleraine BT52 2BL – viciously beat and strung up a Golden Retriever puppy in a terrifying two-day attack.
Dave Streeter’s ban on keeping animals expired September 2018.
Streeter was convicted in July 2008 of seven counts of animal cruelty and one of making threats to kill. He initially appealed against his six-month prison sentence but later abandoned this.
In October 2006 Streeter left Mac (pictured) hanging by his collar, kicked him with steel toe-capped boots and hit him with a boulder. He threatened to kill his wife two days after the dog’s death.
Mac died after Streeter put a choke chain around his neck and hung him from a rafter in his garage.
The dog suffered severe bruising and swelling to his back and head as well as two broken ribs. There was also evidence of bleeding on his brain and lungs.
Speaking to reporters after Streeter dramatically changed his plea, his ex-wife Alison McMonagle, who received overwhelming support from Rainbow Rehoming Centre as she prepared to face her violent husband in court, said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the result. I always said I would put Mac to rest and I’ve done that today.”
Ms McMonagle told reporters how Streeter had changed after they married. She said: “Dave … did not like anything of his things being ruined. Mac would have dug holes. But he was only a puppy.
Ms McMonagle said the violence was sparked after Streeter accused her of spending too much money.
“He started punching and kicking [the dog] and Mac ran behind a wall. Dave lifted a boulder and threw it at him. Then he put Mac in his kennel and put a hose in and told me ‘The bastard will drown’.
“He took him into the garage and tied him by his choker chain to the roof. He came back into the house and he was laughing at me. He was saying, ‘The fucker’s claws are scraping on the ground’.
“He went upstairs and came back down in his steel toe capped boots and went back out saying, ‘The fucker will feel this here’.
“The next day he went out and hung Mac in the garage again. He kept coming back into the house and giving me reports on what was happening. He came in said, ‘That will help him, I have just put a boot in his head’ and then he came back later and told me Mac was dead.
“I didn’t believe him but when I went out to the garage and saw Mac lying there I knew he had suffered a terrible death. You could see the pain in him.”
During the two-day attack, Ms McMonagle made numerous unsuccessful attempts to help Mac.
She said: “At one stage Dave put Mac in the kennel and told me not to go near him. I was really frightened. He used to tell me he knew how to make a person disappear. He told me all he had to do was mince the body and feed it to pigs.
“Dave is a very, very sick man. That part of my life can now be buried.”
Ms McMonagle asaid she took the difficult decision to speak about her ordeal in an attempt to bring an end to domestic abuse and animal cruelty.
Sentence: Six months in jail. A 10-year ban on keeping animals (expired September 2018).
#MostEvil | serial pet abuser Rio Daryle Hall, born 29/07/1987, formerly of Milford Haven, and more recently of Heywood Court, Tenby, Pembrokeshire SA70 8BP – tortured an eight-week-old kitten to death
Hall was banned from keeping animals for life after subjecting an eight-week-old kitten named Angel to a sadistic ordeal. He began by wetting her and placing her on a hot radiator, causing her skin to blister. He then kicked Angel so hard that she fractured her skull. Finally he mutilated the tiny kitten’s ears with scissors.
Hall’s partner and mother of his two children, Caroline Thies, took the stricken cat to the vet who discovered she had fractures to her skull and legs. Angel had to be euthanised to end her appalling suffering.
The vet said the only way the kitten could have received the injuries was by human action, either kicking, stomping or throwing her.
Hall had previously been banned from keeping dogs and cats in 2006, after kicking his dog Benji and breaking his back legs.
Thies, who as at 2018 is still with Hall, received a six-month conditional discharge and was banned from keeping cats or dogs for ten years after pleading guilty to failing to prevent unnecessary suffering to an animal.
As at September 2018 Hall is believed to be living in homeless accommodation in Pembroke. It seems his dopey wife has finally seen the light and chucked the evil get out.
Sentence: Jailed for six months. For his earlier attack on Benji, Hall had been given a 10-year ban on keeping animals. Following his conviction for cruelty towards Angel the ban was extended to life.
