Animal cruelty bill that could have put Northamptonshire animal attackers away for longer delayed again

A Parliament bill that would hand down harsher punishments on animal abusers in England has been delayed until September.

The Animal Cruelty (Sentencing) Bill was set for its second reading in Parliament in June, but has now been put back to September because of the coronavirus crisis.

Under the bill, sentences of up to five years in jail could be handed out to animal abusers. The stricter terms will soon be implemented in Scotland after it passed the final steps to become law in June.

It comes after Northamptonshire saw several criminal cases where animals were grievously injured or killed, but the perpetrators were only charged with 'criminal damage' and sentenced to a handful of months at a time.

They include the 'Northampton Cat Killer' Brendan Gaughan in 2018, who killed and mutilated seven family pets before leaving them in plastic bags outside their homes for their owners to find.

He was only sentenced for three-months in respect of the killings, which His Honour Judge Roger Tregilgas-Davey said he found it "distasteful" he could not impose a harsher sentence.

Another case was Reece Reed who was jailed in 2019 for breaking onto a Wellingborough farm and stabbing a prize-winning miniature horse 20 with a kitchen knife. He also cut the wings off of three chickens, all of which had to be put down.

Reed also only received a two-month sentence over the attacks because it was considered 'criminal damage'. In fact, he received a longer sentence for carrying the knife he used to carry out the offence.

Meanwhile, three men jailed in 2020 for the illegal slaughter of 120 sheep across the county were sentenced for theft for the string of inhumane killings. Two of the offenders were jailed for four years and four months.

In February, a £2,000 reward was put up after a Brackley woman discovered someone had cut off her kitten's head.

Meanwhile, RSPCA Northamptonshire reported April how, in just the first month of lockdown, it was called out to 350 cases of suffering animals, including a case of two hedgehogs being burnt alive in Daventry.