#MostEvil | Laura Cunliffe (aka Laura Eldred), born 19/12/1990, of Springwood Rd, Hoyland, Barnsley S74 0EP – cooked her pet kitten in the microwave
Laura Cunliffe
Enraged that the one-year-old cat named Mowgli had apparently killed her goldfish, Laura Cunliffe put the helpless animal into the microwave and set the timer for five minutes. She was said to have ‘come to her senses’ after one minute, when she took Mowgli out, and poured water on him to cool him down. But the animal died in agony around an hour later, his internal organs having been cooked from the inside.
Cunliffe said the animal was ‘proper screeching’ before he died.
In March 2014 Cunliffe was given a lifetime ban on keeping animals, although she can appeal after five years.
Sentence: 14 weeks in jail, lifetime ban on keeping animals.
#MostEvil | Jamie Lee Blake from Thetford, Norfolk (currently at HMP Bedford) for microwaving a stray cat to death while high on crack cocaine.
Crack cocaine addict Jamie Blake from Thetford, Norfolk, and currently in HMP Bedford for false imprisonment
Blake cooked the young male black cat for three minutes in his bedsit while he was in a drug-induced psychosis.
Blake had befriended the cat, which he nicknamed Buddy, by letting him into his room at night and feeding him cheese and tuna.
He claimed that he argued with Buddy because he had told him that his mother’s former partner, now dead, had been injecting her with heroin.
After killing the cat, he later laughed and joked about his death with fellow residents at the John Room House sheltered housing unit where he lived in Thetford, Norfolk.
Buddy’s body was later found discarded in a wheelie bin along with the defendant’s microwave.
Staff at the unit viewed CCTV footage which showed him picking the cat up by the scruff of his neck and taking him into his room.
The footage showed him later leaving his room with a carrier bag which appeared to have the cat in it and then disposing of the microwave the following day.
Cat hair and other ‘matter associated’ with the cat was found in the microwave.
A post mortem carried out on Buddy confirmed that he had been microwaved to death.
Sally Dale, mitigating for Blake, said her client had a personality disorder which had been exacerbated by the use of crack cocaine.
Sentence: 22 weeks in a young offenders’ institution, banned from keeping animals for life
Updates
September 2015 | Blake was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail for his part in the systematic torture of a man over two days over a drug debt. At the time of writing (7/7/18) he remains in custody at HMP Bedford.
January 2019 | Blake was given an extra two years in jail after squirting a bottle of poo at two plumbers and a prison officer.
He was having the sink in his cell unblocked by two plumbers in February 2018 when he carried out the “disgusting” attack.
The court heard, Blake picked up an 18-inch piece of pipe and told the men to “get out” of his cell, before producing a plastic bottle containing faeces which he had prepared.
He had prepared the bottle as part of a planned protest whilst serving his sentence at HMP Bedford.
Blake squirted the bottle directly into the face of one man and then at the other, chasing them out of his cell and squirting them further, the court heard.
He then squirted the bottle into the face of a prison officer who attempted to intervene, the officer subsequently went on long-term absence.
The court was told the bottle’s contents had entered “the facial orifices” of two of the men, who had been left concerned about contracting diseases.
At Luton Crown Court on Friday January 11, 2019 Judge Andrew Bright QC said: “It’s hard to think of a more callous, degrading and disgusting series of assaults on men carrying out their public duties.”
Blake has 29 convictions for 56 offences.
While in prison, he has committed eight assaults on officers as well as two other offences, and has been moved repeatedly to different facilities.
Judge Bright QC said he accepted that Blake had had an “appalling upbringing”.
Two psychiatrists’ reports from 2015 and 2019 determined Blake had an emotionally unstable personality disorder, but otherwise had no diagnosed mental health problems that could be treated.
CONVICTED (2012) | violent career criminal Paul Henry, born c. 1966, from Gainsborough (address tbc) – microwaved a cat to death at a friend’s flat
Cat killer Paul Henry
The court heard that Henry microwaved the 18-month-old cat, Suzie, on 26 July 2010 after his friend, Andrew Parsons, allowed him to stop at his home.
Mr Parsons returned from work to find Suzie’s remains in the microwave oven.
The words ‘Menu fried cat £1.20’ had been written on the kitchen wall.
Henry denied causing unnecessary suffering to the animal. But the court was told within 48 minutes of Mr Parsons leaving home at 4.30pm a text message was sent from Henry’s mobile phone to his then girlfriend which read: ‘Claire, just cooking Andy’s cat, enroute.’
A second message sent from the same phone a short time later added: ‘Just cooking Andy’s cat in microwave, be two minutes.’
The court heard Henry tried to deflect blame on a second friend, Phillip Mathers, who also visited Mr Parson’s flat while he was at work.
Henry tried to blame Philip Mathers for Suzie’s death but this was not accepted by the court due to lack of evidence
But Mathers, also from Gainsborough, was cleared of any involvement after Judge Stobart said there was no evidence to place him at the scene when the cat was cooked.
Mr Parsons said after finding Suzie he rang the police and quickly got a phonecall from Henry. ‘He just said it was Mathers who did your cat.’
Mathers admitted stealing a razor from Mr Parson’s flat and injecting the Class A drug liquid amphetamines with Henry, but insisted he was not present when the cat was cooked.
Paul Wood, prosecuting, said: ‘The cat was alive when placed into the microwave and died as a result of being cooked in it.’
District judge John Stobart told Henry it was the “worse case of animal cruelty he could imagine”.
He said he had given Henry the maximum sentence the law allowed.
Sentencing: six months in jail. Unspecified ban on keeping animals.
Judge Michael Heath told Henry he was “self-absorbed” and a “manipulative bully”.
He said the microwaving of the cat was “an illustration of the callous way in which you are prepared to behave towards another living being”.
Henry microwaved the cat, called Suzie, on 26 July last year.
Michael Cranmer-Brown, defending, said Henry had confessed about the cat incident to Ms Boswell and she had been a witness against him in relation to that.
He said Henry was taking drugs for depression at the time, and started texting Miss Boswell.
“His texts turned to talk of taking his own life, which she seemed to be effectively encouraging him to do,” said Mr Cranmer-Brown.
Henry was then arrested on 14 September 2011 for harassing Miss Boswell, after he climbed on to her roof several days before, entered her house and said he intended to kill her.
He appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 15 September 2011, where he was given a suspended sentence.
He went to her house the same day, smashed a window to gain entry, took a knife from her kitchen drawer and stabbed Ms Boswell.
The knife penetrated her breast and punctured her liver, causing life-threatening injuries.
He was jailed for causing unnecessary suffering to the cat while on remand for the attempted murder in September 2011.
He was found guilty of attempted murder following a trial.
The court heard about numerous convictions for violence against other people, starting when Henry was 12 or 13.
These included assaulting another girlfriend twice in 2004.
In 1993 he punched his manager several times, causing him grievous bodily harm, after being told he was being made redundant.
Judge Heath told Henry: “You can be charm personified, but if things don’t suit you or go your way you resort to violence.”
#MostEvil | Gina Marie Robins, born 16/09/1980 of 29 Collaton Road, Torquay TQ2 7HH – microwaved a neighbour’s kitten to death in a vile act of revenge
In 2011 Gina Robins shut a 10-week-old kitten in the microwave oven and switched it on. The kitten’s owner, Robins’ neighbour Sarah Knutton, heard a loud popping sound like an exploding bag of crisps before a ‘horrendous screeching noise’.
Miss Knutton went into the kitchen and found the black and white kitten dead in the microwave.
She said: ‘I was in a state of shock. Gina stared at me. She didn’t say anything. She just stared at me.’
The next day Robins sent Miss Knutton a text which read: ‘Remember the saying “what goes around comes around?” It has started already to bite you in the ****. The cat? Karma.’
Robins had denied a charge of causing unnecessary suffering. She claimed the kitten jumped up onto a worktop and other cats started fighting and shut the kitten in the microwave which then started up.
But prosecutor Iain O’Donnell, for the RSPCA, said it was ‘implausible’ the kitten had crawled into the oven and another cat had knocked the door shut, activating the appliance.
Vet Robert Cameron said the ‘kitten would have suffered prior to death’. He said its claws and ears – where there was no fur – were both reddened and its claws were clenched in fear. A post-mortem examination concluded that the kitten died from microwave radiation and there were ‘no other potential causes of death’.
Robins was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to the kitten and sent to prison for 168 days.
Magistrates noted her complete lack of remorse as they sentenced her.
Sentencing: 168 days in jail. Banned from keeping animals for 10 years (expired December 2021).
CONVICTED (2010) | Anthony Parker, born c. 1981, of 24 Holyrood Walk, Hartlepool TS25 3EY – killed a Syrian hamster in a microwave.
Sadistic animal abuser Anthony Parker was only banned from keeping animals for five years
The tiny hamster suffered a horrific death at the hands of her evil owner.
When police came to Parkers home in the early hours of February 23, 2010, he admitted putting his pet in the cooker after a drunken row with his girlfriend.
The court heard he told officers: “I didn’t mean to kill her. She was the best hamster I ever had. She was called Suzie.”
2019 photo of animal torturer Anthony Parker
Her body was found in a wheelie bin outside the house with burns to her mouth. A post-mortem determined that she had died from exposure to radiation.
In addition to a nine-week custodial sentence, Parker was banned from keeping animals for five years (expired 2015).
While Parker’s landlord, Housing Hartlepool, had threatened to take a hardline against the animal abuser by evicting him, in the end they merely “demoted” his tenancy.
#MostEvil | Declan Kevin Baker, born 6 January 1991, of Craig O’Loch Road, Forfar DD8 1BZ – cooked a kitten in a microwave
Sadistic kitten killer Declan Baker pictured outside court in 2009 (left) with a more recent (2019) photo of him on the right.
In February 2009 Baker pleaded guilty to cooking a four-week-old kitten in a microwave.
Although the kitten initially survived, one of his paws became swollen and flesh elsewhere on his tiny body started to decay. Six days after the attack he was put to sleep to end his suffering.
Baker could not explain his sadistic act other than to say that he had drank half-a-bottle of whisky and that it was a joke that had gone too far.
The kitten – one of a litter – belonged to Baker’s friend, who called the police when he discovered what Baker had done. Animal welfare campaigners were disappointed that Baker was not given a custodial sentence. However, Baker was met with angry scenes outside the court and had to be taken home in a police van. He had also received death threats.
In January 2010 Baker was told that he would not have to complete his community service sentence due to a debilitating medical condition, the precise nature of which was not revealed.
Sentencing: 120 hours of community service. Banned from keeping pets for seven years (expired 2016).
CONVICTED (2008) | Clare Elizabeth Frear (aka Clare Taylor), born 15/04/1985, of 8 Juno Street, Nelson BB9 8RH – failed to get treatment for a cat that had been microwaved by her child
Clare Frear
In October 2008 Frear pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the cat, named Cassie. She was initially accused of putting the cat into a microwave oven herself, but later blamed her four-year-old son, Declan Frear.
The cat died in agony six hours later and Frear admitted she hadn’t taken her to the vet for treatment.
RSPCA officers found Cassie’s body in a bin bag outside the house.
Sentencing: three-month curfew; costs of £250. Banned from keeping animals for five years (expired 2013).
CONVICTED (2001) | Nadine Marie Trewin, born 29/08/1969, currently (2018) of Forge Road, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 1QR – cooked her pet cat in a microwave oven after she was bitten on the leg by a flea
Mother-of-two Nadine Marie Trewer of Crawley microwaved a cat to death while drunk
Mother-of-two Trewin had changed her plea and admitted cruelty during a trial at Horsham magistrates’ court in June 2001.
The court heard that Trewin had drunk seven cans of lager and two bottles of wine when the offence was committed.
She told the court that she had become angry when a flea from the 6yo tabby, who was called Sasha, bit her on the leg.
She said the cat jumped into the microwave before the door accidentally slammed shut, activating the oven.
She said the cat had cooked for less than a minute, but then the animal failed to move so she tipped her out of the oven from the kitchen window.
She later buried Sasha in the back garden.
Two days later Trewin told her friend Stacey Passmore that she had killed the cat. Miss Passmore was so upset she decided to contact the RSPCA, which prosecuted Trewin.
The court was told that Trewin been suffering from depression and had been prescribed Prozac when the incident occurred.
Trewin’s lawyer said his client “didn’t intend to deliberately harm the cat” and read out a statement from her in which she described herself as having “strong feelings of love for animals”.
As Trewin left the court, animal rights protesters shouted: “Cat killer.”
The RSPCA, which brought the case to court, condemned Trewin’s five-year ban as “far too lenient”.
RSPCA spokeswoman Claire Kennet said: “We feel she should have received a lifetime ban because the act was deliberate.”
Sentencing: Two-year community rehabilitation order. Banned from keeping animals for five years.
