Teenagers who tortured and killed two kittens sentenced

A teenage girl and boy who tortured and killed two kittens have been sentenced after one animal was “completely ripped open” and found hanging from a tree.

- TARA COBHAM

The 17-year-olds, who cannot be named for legal reasons, launched the “sadistic” attack on the animals on 3 May near Ickenham Road, Ruislip, in northwest London. The kittens were found cut open with ropes attached to them, and “dead pieces of flesh and fur appeared to have been burnt off them", a court heard.

The hearing was told the boy had also dreamed of killing a human and “getting away with murder”, with police analysis of his phone showing he had also researched “sacrificing animals to Satan” and watched a “significant amount of videos of animals that have been mutilated and people that have been beheaded”.

The court heard a note on his device read: “I have got close to satisfying my urges. I have skinned, strangled and stabbed cats.”

The police officer also told the hearing there were “a few images of kittens that had been quite badly mutilated” on the phone of the girl, who was aged 16 at the time, as well as videos downloaded from a “gore website” in the months leading up to the incident.

The defendants appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court in May and pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the protected animals by “mutilating and killing” them. They also both admitted one count of possession of a knife at Ruislip Golf Course.