Motorist caught running cat over spared jail

A MAN who was caught on closed circuit cameras repeatedly driving his car over a cat was spared jail yesterday.

Barry Haggerty, a 58-year-old chartered surveyor, from Olney in Buckinghamshire, was heading for work when he ran over the animal on April 12.

He returned to the scene and drove forwards and backwards over the cat as it thrashed around in pain, eventually killing it.

Having pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty he was yesterday sentenced by Milton Keynes Magistrates to a period of imprisonment of six weeks, suspended for 52 weeks, ordered to do 60 hours’ community service, and to pay the prosecution costs of £4,182 (€6,121).

Defence solicitor Dean Price said that Haggerty was “an animal lover” who was trying to put the cat out of its misery and had reacted with “horror and remorse” when he was shown CCTV footage of the incident.

The court heard that Haggerty, a father of three, was driving to catch a train to work in London at around 6am when he ran over Mixey the cat in Haversham.

He told police he thought he had killed the cat outright when he first hit it but he returned and ran it over a further 10 times just to be sure. He said he believed he had missed the cat the first eight times.

He said: “I feel really awful. My only thoughts were how can I stop this animal suffering. The only thing I had was the car. I thought I was acting in the best interests of the cat.”

The mangled animal was later discovered by its owner, Mahmood al-Najar, lying in a pool of blood in his driveway. It was only after he had buried his cat that Mr al-Najar discovered that two CCTV cameras at the bottom of his drive had captured the entire incident.

The four-minute film, which was played for magistrates yesterday, showed Mr Haggerty’s silver Renault Clio drive forwards and backwards over the one-year-old tortoiseshell female 10 times for two-and-a-half-minutes.

The cat could clearly be seen thrashing its legs and tail in agony.

Haggerty is seen to get out of his car at one stage to assess the state of the cat.

Vets who later examined Mixey said it had only been on the last attempt that Haggerty had crushed her skull, killing her.

Veterinary surgeon David Martin said the cat would have been conscious throughout its ordeal.

RSPCA Inspector David Braybrooke, who helped to bring the prosecution, said: “I don’t think he meant to cause suffering, but the method he chose to kill this cat was totally inappropriate and caused a tremendous amount of suffering.”