60-year animal ban for cat attack

A woman who beat her pet cat over the head with a glass bottle more than 20 times has been spared a jail sentence but banned from keeping animals for 60 years.

Beth Amber, aged 22, chased the pet around her Cannock flat before beating it. The badly injured cat was eventually put down.

Amber told police voices in her head told her to attack the cat.

Amber, of Moss Road, appeared before Cannock magistrates yesterday where she was given an 18-month supervision order and ordered to pay compensation to police for the vet's bill of £130. She could have been jailed for 51 weeks and fined up to £20,000.

Magistrates heard Amber, who had owned Puss for two years, arrived at the home of her friend Tony Roberts at around 9pm on May 15.

Mr John Peel, prosecuting, said Amber appeared "jittery" and said she believed she had killed her cat. Her friend and his family went to the flat to find the cat in the sink bleeding from the mouth and in distress.

Police and a vet were called but the animal had to be put down.

Amber pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Mr Peel said Amber was reluctant to speak to police but in interview said she had been "told by him" to hit the cat.

"She pursued the cat around the flat hitting it 20 times on the head. It came to rest in the sink where she had hit it further."

He said she admitted being alone in the flat at the time but would not say who "he" was.

Mr Peel said a vet concluded the animal had suffered severe cranial damage from deliberate blows and "the cat had been subjected to unnecessary suffering and its injuries were not accidental".

No defence was given in court but a pre-sentence report was presented to the bench.

Chairman of the bench Mr David Pearsall told her: "Our starting point for this is custody. We have looked at what made it worse – the cat had to be put down, it was repeated blows with a bottle and you were using a weapon but we did not find anything that lessened it."

He added: "It was a one-off event and it wasn't sadistic or for pleasure. It was deliberate but a reaction to your mental health problems."

Amber, who is receiving benefit, was also ordered to pay £60 in court costs and will pay the total of £190 at £5 a week.