Woman fined for dumping cat in bin

A WOMAN who was caught on CCTV dumping a cat in a wheelie bin was fined £250 (€285) yesterday after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal.

Former bank worker Mary Bale, 45, from Coventry, became an international hate figure in August after CCTV footage emerged of her stroking the four-year-old tabby before picking it up and dropping it into the bin.

She admitted the charge of causing unnecessary suffering when she appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

A second charge, of failing to provide the cat with a suitable environment, contrary to the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, was dropped.

Bale, who was close to tears, was fined £250 plus £15 victim surcharge and costs of £1,171 (€1,330). She was also banned from keeping or owning animals for the next five years.

District judge Caroline Goulborn told Bale the potential of the offence to have caused harm to the cat was substantial, but in reality it had not been hurt.

She said: “The media interest in this case has resulted in you being vilified in some quarters and I have taken that into account.”

Judge Goulborn, who was told Bale’s elderly father was gravely ill at the time, added: “I accept that you were in a stressful situation at the time, but that’s no excuse for what you did.”

The court heard that Bale — who had faced a maximum fine of £20,000 or up to six months’ in prison — could provide no answer as to why she had acted in such an “impulsive and irrational” way.

The court heard that the cat, named Lola, was trapped for around 15 hours overnight after being thrown into the bin in Coventry on the evening of Saturday, August 21.