Matthew David Cox’s wife had left him, so he kicked his cat to death (From The Northern Echo)

Matthew David Cox’s wife had left him, so he kicked his cat to death

8:43am Friday 5th March 2010 in

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A MAN who kicked his pet cat to death in an act of revenge against his estranged wife has been jailed for 15 weeks.

A court heard that Matthew David Cox’s wife had left him some months before the incident, after only two days of marriage.

Cox, 33, of Ashlands Court, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, had previously pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the cat, called Lucky, at the town’s magistrates’ court in October last year.

He had admitted placing the animal in a box, taping the box up and kicking it twice, inflicting blunt force trauma.

Sentencing had been delayed several times for the preparation of pre-sentence reports and a psychiatric report.

Chris Bunting, for Cox, told the court: “This was an unpleasant case and there is no doubt that the cat was caused a great deal of suffering in this matter.

“We argue custody would not be suitable for Mr Cox because he could not cope, and the psychiatric report agrees that supervision and community punishment would be far more helpful for him.”

However, in sentencing, magistrates told Cox: “Despite your vulnerability, this is so serious a matter that only custody is appropriate.

You have shown no remorse.

It was an act of pure malice and a deliberate act of revenge against your wife.”

Cox was also banned from keeping any animal for ten years.

The court heard that Cox’s wife left him after only 48 hours of marriage and that he had cared for Lucky, a brown and white cat, and several other cats for four months.

After becoming angry with his wife, he placed Lucky in a cardboard box, and kicked it, killing the animal, before photographing the body and showing it to his wife.

She sent a copy to her own phone, which she took to the police and the RSPCA.

Inspector Pippa Boyd, an RSPCA officer who investigated the case, said: “We are very pleased with this result. For someone to inflict such brutality against their own pet deserves such a sentence.

“The RSPCA relies on the public to report such incidents and it is only due to mobile phone photographs that we were able to achieve this sentence.”