Six months for ‘repugnant’ killing
BY TIM BUGLER A DRUG addict who was given £20 to rehome a family’s dog – but instead bound its legs with its lead, tied it to a stone and threw it in a canal – was jailed for six months yesterday.
Daniel McPhillips, whose actions were branded “repugnant” by a sheriff, was also banned from keeping a pet for five years.
The Scottish SPCA said McPhillips had caused his King Charles spaniel “unimaginable suffering”.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard McPhillips, 26, had been asked by desperate mum-of-two Tammy Burgoyne to take sevenyear-old pet Alfie to a vet and say he’d found him, knowing the practice’s policy was to pass on strays to a dog shelter where he would find a new home.
Tammy, 43, told the court her benefits had been cut and she could no longer afford to keep Alfie.
McPhillips texted her to say he’d done what she’d asked. But a month later the dog’s body was fished out of the Forth and Clyde Canal near Allandale,
Stirlingshire, by a lockkeeper.
McPhillips was arrested after admitting to another drug user he’d dumpd him.
After a summary trial earlier this month, McPhillips, of Denny, was found guilty of causing Alfie unnecessary suffering.
When he reappeared yesterday for sentence, his solicitor Mark Fallon said his client “regrets the harm he caused”.
Fallon added: “He is addicted to crack cocaine, and the offence was committed having taken heroin and Valium.”
Sheriff Christopher Shead said it was a “grave contravention” of animal cruelty laws and jailed him for six months.