CONVICTED (2022) | animal hoarder Mark Dean Blazey, born c. 1967, of Clayton Close, Weymouth DT3 6QZ – drowned 10 cats and dumped their bodies.

Mark Blazey was found guilty of two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and two counts of failing to undertake the duty of a person responsible for an animal to ensure its welfare during a two-day trial earlier.

The court heard that Blazey was responsible for the cats and ‘purposefully and forcibly’ drowned them by submerging them in a body of water.

He dumped five of them in two suitcases at Weymouth Recycling Centre on February 8, 2021. He returned to the same tip a week later and dumped five more dead cats in a black bin bag.

Blazey, who was said to have around 40 cats in his one-bedroom flat at the time of the incident, told the court that the cats were like his ‘family’. Despite offers from a neighbour to help him take them off his hands, he was reluctant to give them away because he wanted to know that they could be looked after.

When asked by prosecutor Rowan Morton about a bucket and tarpaulin found in his bathroom, he said that the bucket was used to create a make-shift water fountain for his cats to drink and play with, using a pump.

The defendant said that there was a possibility that the cats were poisoned and said that on one occasion, prior to the cats’ deaths, blue pills in an open envelope were posted through his letter box, which he believed made the cats ate, causing them to become sick. He said he could not remember if the cats survived. He said he fixed a cage on the inside of his letter box to stop anymore letters posted from dropping on the floor.

Blazey said he did not know how the cats died, or if they were found dead weeks before going to the tip with their bodies. He said he could not remember if all 10 cats had died all together or in two lots of five.

He said he wrapped the cats in a towel, to keep them ‘nice’, and put them in the bathtub. The bathtub was said to have also been used as a toilet by the cats and Blazey said he would often use the shower head to wash away faeces and urine, and did so while the dead cats were in there, causing them to be wet.

When asked why he didn’t call a vet, Blazey said he didn’t call because he was ‘scared’ and said he was reluctant to talk to police because he was worried his cats would be taken off of him. He said the reason he gave a largely no comment interview was because he was following the advice from his duty solicitor.

They court heard that the RSPCA inspector involved in the case, Patrick Bailey, noticed an overwhelming smell of urine when visiting Blazey’s address.

Prosecutors said the crime had “some level of pre-meditation” and said: “they (the cats) did suffer. The heart would have stopped beating after around five-to-ten minutes”.

Max Owen, mitigating, said Blazey was “clearly someone who loves animals” and suggested his client, living on universal credit, had sacrificed himself ‘almost everything’ to take care of the cats.

Mr Owen described Blazey as “very fond of his cats… they were of normal body weight, well-fed and seemed to be well cared for albeit in a very small flat.”

He said: “The reality is that losing his cats is going to be a devastating for him and a much greater punishment than any the court could give.”

The assistant manager of the recycling centre confirmed that he found five ‘sopping wet’ cats on both occasions.

At the conclusion of the trial, chair of the bench Mr Davidge said that they found Blazey guilty of drowning the cats and causing them unnecessary suffering.

Sentencing | 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days; £395 in fine, costs and victim surcharge. Disqualified from owning any animal for five years (expires August 2027) with the cats still in his possession to be removed within 24 hours.

Dorset Echo