A wicked woman who set her dogs on an elderly cat and posted a horrific video of the killing has been jailed.
Alexandra Jade Gregson shared footage on Snapchat of her animals attacking a neighbour’s black and white moggy.
The dead body of the cat, called Poppy, was later found in a bin to the rear of her home.
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In the video, Gregson, 35, can be heard repeatedly shouting at her dogs: “You p*ssies, get it Zola, get that little cat.
“Go on Zola, get it!”
The cat is chased by the dogs before freezing in fear.
A vet report which summarised the video stated: “The dogs do not appear to readily want to attack the cat but following the repeated commands from the owner they do.
“The woman makes no attempt to stop the attack on the cat but is actively encouraging it to happen.
“When she says ‘leave it’ and ‘come’ in the last 20 seconds of the video, she makes no physical attempt to help the cat.
“The woman laughs during the attack, thus appearing to find the attack amusing and entertaining.”
Gregson of Alma Street, Padiham, near Burnley, Lancs, was sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on Friday (15 Aug) following an RSPCA prosecution, as reported by Need To Know.
Inspector Miranda Albinson, who investigated for the RSPCA, said: “This video is incredibly distressing to watch and it is evident from the very start that Gregson is encouraging and inciting these dogs to attack the cat.
“This goes on for more than a minute with Gregson’s commands to ‘get it’ becoming louder and more forceful and the dogs in turn become more aggressive towards Poppy.
“This must have been a terrifying experience for Poppy and would have caused her considerable suffering to be attacked and killed like this.”
In May last year, RSPCA Inspector Laura Baker attended the property in Alma Street, after viewing the footage of the attack, where she saw a black and white crossbreed dog with the same markings as the dog in the Snapchat video inside a training cage.
She also explored the yard and confirmed that in her opinion, it was the same garden as shown in the video.
Poppy was a 15-year-old black and white cat who belonged to a nearby neighbour.
She had arthritis and didn’t wander very far from her home.
Her owner reported that his sister had seen a Facebook post that Poppy may have been attacked by dogs.
When they searched for their much-loved cat, the owner’s sister found her body in a bin at the rear of Gregson’s property.
A post mortem of her body found that she had suffered from a torn liver, there was blood within her abdominal cavity and bleeding lesions to her left kidney and stomach which were consistent with blunt force trauma.
The report concluded: “My veterinary interpretation is that Poppy died due to injuries sustained as a result of the dog bites from this attack.
“The cat in the video will have suffered from pain and distress as a result of the dog bites inflicted during the attack which resulted in her death.
“Poppy was known to have arthritis with her owner noting that her mobility was reduced.
“The woman in the video comments that Poppy is an older cat.
“The fact that Poppy had arthritis is likely to have reduced her ability to escape from the yard area which had surrounding walls and flee from the dangerous threat of the dogs.
“The inability to escape a dangerous situation will have caused Poppy to suffer due to fear and distress.
“The negative emotions Poppy will have experienced during the attack will likely have included anxiety, fear, panic, and a feeling of helplessness.
“It is my opinion that Poppy was caused to suffer unnecessarily due to pain and distress from the bite wounds and blunt trauma resulting in fatal tissue damage to the abdominal organs.
“This suffering could have been prevented entirely by the owner of the dogs not inciting her dogs to attack, removing her dogs or removing the cat Poppy from the yard area.
“And Poppy’s suffering could have been reduced by the owner intervening when the attack started.”
In mitigation, the court heard that Gregson had been in custody for 12 weeks – due to other offences – and had been making efforts to engage with the prison regime.
The court also heard that she had been engaging with drug and alcohol teams.
She was sentenced to 10 months immediate custody for the animal welfare offence and a total of 22 months for all offences.
She was banned from keeping animals for life and a confiscation order put in place for any animals she owns.
She was also ordered to pay costs of £9,906.74.
In sentencing remarks, Judge Sara Dodd said: “It is perhaps hard to put into words how sadistic and persistent that episode was.
“Your dogs took a significant amount of encouragement before they began, let alone continued their attack on Poppy.
“They had absolutely no interest in that cat before you goaded them into attacking her.”
