December 2022

Hull woman jailed for Christmas after stabbing and strangling Yorkshire Terrier until it died

A cruel and heartless dog owner viciously stabbed and then strangled her pet to death in a “shocking” attack that caused a high degree of suffering to the terrified animal.

Patricia King used a kitchen knife to stab the dog nine times during a repeated and deliberate incident that would have caused a lot of pain and distress, Hull magistrates heard.

King, 47, of Palm Court, Hull, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a female Yorkshire terrier-type dog called Pepper on February 7.

Philip Brown, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said that King “inflicted deliberate and fatal cruelty” on the dog, aged between four and five, at her home.

King was in a distressed state when she approached a woman that she knew and asked her for a cuddle. She told the woman that she had killed her dog

The other person was concerned because she knew that King did not always tell the entire truth and so made further inquiries.

She made the “shocking discovery” of finding the mutilated dead body of the dog wrapped in an old blanket in a bedroom.

The woman managed to “secrete” the dog out of the property and alerted the RSPCA.

The dead dog was taken away and it was discovered that it had suffered nine stab wounds, likely to have been caused by a kitchen knife.

“The wounds led to significant internal bleeding,” said Mr Brown.

“The animal was also subject to strangulation and suffocation while it was still alive and the vet concludes that the stab wounds were inflicted while the dog was alive.”

The wounds included stabs to the back and side in quick succession and “trauma” would have been caused.

“Death was directly attributed to the stab wounds,” said Mr Brown.

“The dog did not immediately die. There is evidence of strangulation in addition to the stab wounds. The animal going into shock would have speeded up death.

“This animal would have suffered, from this ordeal, an extreme pain reaction and would have been extremely distressed. There was a high degree of suffering and distress caused to the animal by the manner of its death.”

Presiding magistrate Lynda Carmichael told King: “Due to the deliberate and sustained injuries inflicted on the dog, Pepper, which led to a high degree of suffering, we do believe that this matter warrants immediate custody.”

King was jailed for 16 weeks but Mr Phillip immediately gave notice of an appeal to Hull Crown Court.

He asked for King to be allowed bail pending the appeal, saying that she could have served about half of the sentence by the time an appeal was heard, but this was refused by the magistrates and she remained in custody to be taken to New Hall Prison, near Wakefield.

King was given an indefinite ban on keeping any animal and this will be for a minimum of 10 years.

The RSPCA’s costs will be paid from central funds but King was ordered to pay a Government-imposed £120 victims’ surcharge.