CONVICTED (2015) Kevin Dixon, born 23/03/1980, formerly of Newsome, Huddersfield and more recently Field Road, Holmfirth HD9 1EJ – axed a neighbour’s dog to death

Self-employed joiner Kevin Dixon pleaded not guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an Akita-type dog called Tempa but was convicted after a trial.

He was accused of slashing the pet seven times after the dog, who it was claimed had a history of biting people, bit a woman at a house party. The dog belonged to grandmother Amanda Hamer but Dixon had been walking him twice a day for her after she suffered a severe whiplash injury.

On May 16, 2014, Miss Hamer decided to have a social gathering at her home in Newsome, Huddersfield and invited Dixon.

The prosecutor told the court the dog bit a woman in the face.

The RSPCA was contacted and their advice was to take Tempa to a vet on the following Monday morning to be euthanised. However rather than follow that advice Dixon decided to take matters into his own hands. He said he would take Tempa for a walk but gave no indication of his motives.

Approximately an hour later the defendant returned to the property without the dog.

The court heard Miss Hamer asked where her dog was and Dixon replied: “I have done what needed to be done”.

He then mentioned an axe and said: “It felt good, it was not easy, it struggled”.

The court heard the pet’s owner was shocked and moved away from him.

The matter was reported to police but when officers contacted he told them he had given the dog to a passer-by. However, when he was arrested on May 19, 2014, he admitted killing Tempa and took officers to where he had buried the dog.

In March 2015, Dixon was convicted of cruelty by killing the dog “in an inappropriate and inhumane manner” after the RSPCA were able to produce evidence showing that the dog had suffered. It wasn’t that Dixon had killed the dog but the way he did it.

Sentencing: 18-week jail sentence suspended for two years; curfew; costs of £1,500.

ExaminerLive