Man who was paid $26 to re-home pet dog ties it to stone and drowns it in canal, jailed for six months
A 26-year-old man was sentenced to six months in prison after he intentional drowned a dog he was given money to re-home.
Tammy Burgoyne, 43, who owned a King Charles Spaniel, Alfie, was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to give up his pet after her benefits were cut.
So she gave Daniel McPhillips £20 ($26) to take Alfie to a vet and tell them that he had found it.
McPhillips pocketed the money instead. He then tied the canine's legs with its own lead, attached it to a stone and threw it into a canal at Underwood Lock, near Allandale, Stirlingshire.
Lock-keeper Douglas Wilson, 57, pulled the dog's body out of the water and posted photos of it on Facebook.
When Burgoyne came across the pictures, he immediately recognized his pet dog and contacted the Scottish SPCA which got in contact with McPhillips saying they wanted to question him.
After he was arrested, he initially tried denying the allegations by claiming that Alfie had slipped out of its lead and bolted. But he eventually accepted his crime. His lawyer, Mark Fallon, told the court that his client now "regrets the harm he caused."
"He is addicted to crack cocaine, and the offense was committed having taken heroin and Valium," he added, Metro reported.
According to a post-mortem report, there was evidence that Alfie struggled under the water to free itself from the leash and that injuries to its neck were "consistent with strangulation."
"The repugnant nature of this offense is such that a custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal," Sheriff Christopher Shead told McPhillips.
A spokesman for the Scottish SPA said: "Rather than taking Alfie to the vet, McPhillips instead decided to kill him and pocket the cash. It is hard to comprehend how tragic Alfie’s death was. As well as the trauma to his neck, he also had injuries to his front legs where he’d been trying to escape the bindings. Alfie was caused unimaginable unnecessary suffering due to the actions of McPhillips."
Burgoyne was relieved after the verdict against McPhillips. "It is such a relief. All I wanted was for the truth to come out and to get justice for Alfie. McPhillips deserves jail," she said.