A 45-year-old man from Nottinghamshire has been sentenced to prison after he fatally stabbed a dog in the heart.
Simon Elliott, who was trusted by friends to look after their pets while they were on holiday, also repeatedly stabbed a second dog in a heinous act of animal cruelty, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
A neighbour discovered the horrifying scene when she entered Elliott’s property and found Rosie the beagle “stiff and cold”, and Sabre, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, with multiple knife wounds. She described the gruesome sight inside his flat as “abhorrent and barbaric”.
Judge Stuart Rafferty KC, sentencing him to 18 months in prison, said: “Only you will know how clearly you remember what happened. You knew you had mental health issues and you knew you had been on (an alcohol) binge. You were an accident waiting to happen, and all you had to say to (the victims) was ‘I am sorry, I can’t look after the dogs’.”
Judge Rafferty KC continued: “It is difficult to say if you attacked both of these dogs during the same episode.
“Dogs, like human beings, have instincts and Sabre would undoubtedly be scarred by what it saw.”
Janita Patel, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, revealed that the owners of both dogs had entrusted them to Elliott while they were away.
She stated: “On May 26, 2024, they went on holiday, telling the defendant they were not far away if there were any problems.
“On May 29, a neighbour said she saw the defendant looking jittery outside his address. He said to her ‘someone has killed my dog’, adding ‘there’s a cow in my bed’.
“She was concerned the defendant had harmed the animals and so entered his flat and noticed a strong smell of flesh. She then saw a dog with a wound to its chest and then another dog lying on the floor with its tongue hanging out.
“It was cold and stiff to the touch and she realised the dog was dead. She also noticed there was a large knife.
“The police arrived and the neighbour described the scene as ‘abhorrent, barbaric and extremely upsetting’. One of the dogs had been stabbed and the knife had penetrated the heart while the other had been stabbed multiple times.”
Miss Patel read out a victim impact statement made by the owners, who attended this week’s hearing. In it, they revealed how devastating it was for them to explain what had happened to the dogs to their children.
Elliott, of Scargill Rise, Eastwood, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. He has previous “alcohol-related” convictions.
Jabeen Akhtar, mitigating, said her client was “going through a psychotic episode at the time” he stabbed the animals. She said: “In his letter he says ‘I would like to express how sorry I am.
“I have previously looked after the dogs on numerous occasions as the owners were friends of mine for many years and I have lost that friendship. I had problems with alcohol and I am truly sorry for what I did.'”
“This was a one-off while he was suffering a mental episode. He has made significant efforts to find work and stay off alcohol.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge prohibited the defendant from keeping any animal for a decade.