Retired Cambridge coach shot neighbour’s cat with air rifle

A retired Cambridge University rowing coach shot his neighbour’s kitten with an air rifle and threw it over the fence because he thinks cats are a “menace to birds”, a court heard.

Christopher Boswell, 73, admitted causing injuries to the one-year-old cat, which needed its leg amputated. He told the Siamese’s owner, Caroline King, that he had been hunting cats since he was 17, the court heard. When she knocked on his door on April 7 after her pet had gone missing, he admitted what he had done.

Simon Bravery, prosecuting, said: “He said, ‘I don’t like cats, in fact I hate them. They are a menace to wildlife and birds.” Boswell was sentenced to 12 weeks jail, but has been released on bail until an appeal hearing.