HENRY NEWEY AVOIDS JAIL AFTER TORTURING FAMILY CAT
A TWISTED yob narrowly avoided being jailed after tying a noose around a family’s cat and repeatedly smashing it against a wall.Ring doorbell video caught vile thug Henry Newey, 18, dragging ginger moggie Marshall along by a rope before swinging him three times.
The treasured pet miraculously survived and scarpered before finally returning home in Basingstoke, Hampshire, hours later on July 17.
Marshall was taken to a vet and was given painkillers for bruising and swelling, but amazingly X-rays found no broken bones.
Newey admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and was sentenced today at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court.
The teen, wearing a white shirt and tie, showed no emotion in the dock while watching the footage of his heinous attack.
David Forsler, prosecuting, said: "The crown says it’s clearly sadistic behaviour.
It is torture." Sarah Keeling, Marshall’s owner, previously told The Sun: “It seemed like he was trying to kill our poor cat in the video.
“I watched it and felt ill in my stomach.
It was sickening.
I genuinely thought Marshall was dead and we’d never see him again.” She was eight months pregnant at the time of the attack, which left her suffering anxiety and needing maternity checks over fears for her unborn baby.
Sarah, 38, wrote in a victim impact statement read out in court: “The whole situation has been terrifying and heartbreaking.
“It’s had an incredible impact on my daughter, who’s only eight years old.” Her daughter wrote Marshall a heartbreaking card while at school and joined the search for the missing moggie - before falling asleep cuddling him when he returned.
She told The Sun: “We were cuddling and snoring.
I was very sad and angry when he went missing.
I wrote a letter to him and I read it to him.
“We play together a lot.
I play with his favourite little cat toy which is a stick with a mouse.” Marina Phillips, defending, claimed Newey suffers “significant deficits in his emotions” and there’s a “history of physical violence in the family home”.
She blamed his torturous actions on an “impulsive decision” after apparently being bitten by Marshall, adding: “He’s incredibly remorseful and incredibly ashamed.” District Judge Stephen Apted sentenced him to 18 weeks in prison - suspended for 12 months - and banned him from owning any animal for five years.
He said: “It’s clear the animal caused substantial pain and suffering.
There is evidence of sadistic behaviour.
“I do not accept your explanation that this cat had bitten you and that is why you reacted in the way we have seen.
I find that account implausible.” Newey must complete 25 rehab sessions and 150 hours unpaid work - which he claimed he couldn’t do due to “negative publicity”.
The teen, who has a previous youth caution for assault, must also pay £658 in compensation to the Keeling family after they shelled out £438 in vet bills.
Sarah told The Sun: “I'm very disappointed with the sentencing.
I would have preferred him to be off the streets.
"The police had warned me it was unlikely he would go to jail as it was his first offence as an adult.
"Punishments for animal cruelty need to be a lot stricter to prevent further abuse.
Anyone who can do that to an animal isn't a nice person and it often escalates to more serious offending.
The public was fuming after watching what happened to Marshall and you would have thought this would have been used to set an example.
"Marshall is still stuck indoors.
He really wants to go out but I’m too scared to let him.
Even now, he’s still very jumpy and flinchy.
He’s scared of his own shadow.
It’s just cruel that a cat who was so happy is now petrified of anyone that comes near him, including his owners."
