Gardener drowned neighbour’s cat for digging up his veg
A FORMER businessman is facing jail for drowning his neighbour’s cat after it kept digging up his vegetable plot.
Richard Giles put tabby cat Ruby in a water butt after he found her on his property.
The 69-year-old had complained the cat was “ruining” his crops.
Ruby’s owner, Shirley Gear-Evans, 65, spent two days looking for her pet before she confronted Giles.
The widow said yesterday: “At first we got along, but as soon as I said I was getting a cat Richard went mad. He was very unpleasant.
“Our relationship quickly soured after that and he called me several times complaining about Ruby.
“When Ruby didn’t return home on September 19 I searched the fields around the village but didn’t find her. I was worried she might have gone into one of Richard’s outbuildings and become trapped or hurt.
“When I saw him on the Monday morning I asked if he had seen Ruby. He said, ‘You won’t find her, she’s gone, I’ve killed her’.
“He showed no remorse and I was later told he had drowned her in a water butt on his property. He has never apologised.
“I never saw Ruby again – I have no idea what he did with her body.”
She added: “Ruby was my only companion throughout lockdown and now she’s gone and I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting another pet in case he killed that one, too.” Giles, of Adber, Dorset, who sold a crane hire company several years ago, is being prosecuted by the RSPCA.
He admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal when he appeared before magistrates in Weymouth earlier this month.
He told the court: “I said from the get-go I was guilty of killing the cat…I was driven to it. The cat kept coming on my property and ruining my fruit and vegetables. I work hard.”
Matthew Knight, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: “He drowned his neighbour’s cat. Because the offence is so serious, I recommend a starting option of custody.”
Giles had his sentencing adjourned for reports until next Tuesday.