Police dog handler convicted over animal deaths

A police dog handler in the UK, whose two German Shepherds died when they were left in a sweltering car, was today found guilty of animal cruelty.

Pc Mark Johnson, 39, was convicted at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court of having unnecessarily confined his dogs “in an environment that was detrimental to their well-being”.

Johnson, who denied the charge, said he was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder leading to him forgetting his dogs, 18-month-old Jay-Jay and Jet, seven, on June 30 last year.

Johnson was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,500 (€2,800) costs.

Sentencing him, district judge Tim Devas said it was “sad and regrettable” that the two dogs had died.

He said: “This has been an extremely difficult case, not only for Pc Johnson and his family but it’s also been difficult for me up here.

“Sometimes you feel you are doing society a service or providing justice, but I don’t feel any of those things.

“I feel a police officer has been let down and this is for the benefit of the police: this is a dreadful error of judgment brought about by an illness way before it happened and Pc Johnson should have been given more help.

“It is a terribly sad indictment on the police force where you have an officer of his standing who is embarrassed to talk about his illness.

“I cannot believe that in the 21st century, depression and men crying is so abhorrent to an institution that nothing can be done about it.

“I have no doubt that had Pc Johnson received the help he needed then he wouldn’t be standing before me here today.”

The district judge added that he was satisfied that the police officer had no intention of causing any harm to his animals.

He said: “Pc Johnson, I hope you can re-build your life and career at the end of this.”

The court heard that on June 30 last year, Johnson drove his black Ford Mondeo estate to Nottinghamshire Police's headquarters in Arnold, just north of Nottingham.

He arrived at 6.44am and planned to transfer the dogs to a police car but it was off the road as the air conditioning system was being fixed.

He found another car but there were no mats in the back and when he went to find some he became distracted by a police briefing.

Afterwards, he told his sergeant he wanted to discuss some medical issues with him later in the day but he needed time to do his paperwork.

At about 10.30am he planned to go and let his dogs out of the car, give them water and allow them to stretch their legs.

But he got distracted again by a phone call about a missing person.

At midday, he had a meeting with his sergeant about his problems and it was not until 2.20pm that he finally went to check on his dogs.

Both were dead in the boot of his car.

The deaths happened on one of the hottest days of the year, when temperatures reached 29.3C (84.7F).

The dogs died from heatstroke during a heatwave.

Johnson, who had been a dog handler for seven years, said he faced repeated investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission in the years before Jay-Jay and Jet died in the back of his car.

He was left severely depressed and suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and in 2007, following a “life-threatening incident”, had sought help and was given cognitive behavioural therapy.

But that ended in March last year and, when the IPCC started investigating another complaint, his mental problems became worse.

Johnson, who has served with the force for nearly 18 years, said: “Basically it was to do with the IPCC, that they were out to get me.

“Complaint after complaint came in and they were referred to the IPCC when they shouldn’t have been. I always felt they were trying to prove a case against me.”

He added: “I was emotional, I was breaking down crying. We have this rough, tough image of going out there. We think we are invincible so to have an emotional breakdown we find embarrassing.”

Dr Gareth Vincenti, a consultant psychiatrist, told the court that Johnson’s illness could have led to him forgetting that he had left the dogs in the car.

Paul Taylor, prosecuting the case for the RSPCA, said the dogs would have died in excruciating pain.

Mr Taylor outlined a report by veterinary expert David Martin.

In it, Mr Martin said: “It’s my personal opinion that it is a matter of simple common sense not to leave dogs in a car on a hot day for any period of time.”