Cat torturer facing jail sentence

A man who tried to drown two of his housemate's cats after he caught one soiling a sofa is facing jail.

Peter Hall, 23, of Northgate, Darlington, tortured them when they fouled a room he had just cleaned.

He admitted causing them unnecessary suffering and said he "flipped" and was seeing a therapist for anger anxiety.

Sentence was adjourned, but Bishop Auckland magistrate Esme Mason said it was so serious "a custodial sentence of 12 months would be appropriate."

Prosecuting for the RSPCA, Kevin Campbell said police were called in March to a house on Belgrave Street in Darlington, County Durham, where Hall was house-sitting, after neighbours heard animals screaming.

'Harrowing attack'

Through the living room window, officers saw Hall sitting near the drenched, twitching bodies of two young cats.

When they asked him what had happened, Hall first claimed the cats had been hit by a motorbike, then put his head in his hands and said: "They were messing about in the house and I was having a bad day and I just lost it.

"I was holding them under the water in the bathroom."

Mr Campbell said: "The police found a bath full of water with a lot of black fur floating on the top, and a cat's collar, blood, and a lock knife on the bathroom floor upstairs."

Hall had subjected the animals to a harrowing, hour long attack, he told the court.

A vet who treated the injured animals for hypothermia, broken bones, cuts and shock said the cats would have died without medical help.

Identichips revealed they belonged to the house owner, who had gone backpacking in Australia leaving Hall to care for her pets.