Prison sentence for cat killer
A CRUEL loner who decapitated three cats and scalped two others was jailed for eight months yesterday.
Anthony Docherty was also banned from keeping animals for life after a court heard of his catalogue of cruelty .
The 23-year-old snatched the cats from the streets near his home in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, before tormenting them for hours in his bedroom.
All of the animals were decapitated, two were scalped, and one had its tail pulled off, Paisley Sheriff Court heard last month.
Docherty , who returned to court yesterday to face justice, had initially denied seven charges but changed his plea when the Crown offered nine fresh allegations of cruelty against him.
Fiscal depute Rebecca Hoskins told the court that Docherty was caught after police called at his £425,000 bungalow to make routine enquiries into the disappearance of pets and heard the cats in an upstairs bedroom.
Ms Hoskins added: “Docherty was taken in for questioning and told police that his goal was to harm the cats.
“He told police he didn’t think he had tortured the cats but wanted to ‘make them scream a bit’.”
The court also heard that Docherty cut one cat’s head off with a saw “because the eyes were looking at him”.
Johnathon Manson, defending, said Docherty was a self-harming dyslexic who suffered from ADHD.
The lawyer said: “ He has expressed to me a deep and meaningful remorse and is deeply ashamed of his actions. ”
