Teen caught stealing pup but refuses to return her
A TEENAGER caught on CCTV stealing a puppy belonging to her neighbour’s eight-year-old daughter has refused to say what she did with the pet.
Shannagh Cookson was filmed scaling a 5ft fence to grab Penny, a three-monthold cocker spaniel, who was in a portable pet carrier in James Daniel’s back garden.
The 19-year-old grabbed the carrier and jumped back over the fence, appearing to stop and talk to the £600 pup before running off with her. When Mr Daniel, 49, returned from a trip to a supermarket he found his other cocker spaniel, Molly, alone in the garden.
Cookson, a student from Bradford, east Manchester, was later quizzed by police but claimed she had given Penny to a friend because she believed the puppy was being ‘ill-treated’.
Penny has not been recovered despite Mr Daniel making repeated appeals to Cookson’s mother and father.
Prosecutor Martha Dowd told city magistrates that, when Mr Daniel first showed the CCTV footage to Cookson’s mother, she said: ‘That is my daughter, I’m sorry about this.’
Cookson admitted the September 30 theft and was ordered to pay £600 compensation after refusing to disclose Penny’s whereabouts.
Afterwards, taxi driver Mr Daniel (pictured) condemned the teenager’s behaviour and said her claim that the dog was being mistreated was ‘ simply adding insult to injury’.
He added: ‘It’s just so heartless, shameless and cruel how she brazenly jumped over my garden fence and stole my daughter’s puppy dog.
‘The most troubling and annoying thing is that this shameless rogue has stubbornly refused to tell police where she kept the dog or who she sold it to.’
Mr Daniel said his daughter ‘loves her dog and is really, really upset she’s been taken away’.
Stephen Connor, defending, said that Cookson had raised concerns about the health of the dog and was seen on the CCTV trying to call the RSPCA – but was kept waiting.
‘In hindsight she accepts she took a foolish decision and she regrets that,’ he added. ‘The dog was given to a friend. The defendant is adamant she hasn’t received any financial gain.’ Cookson was also ordered to complete a 12-month community order, 150 hours unpaid work and pay £85 in costs.