Essex pet killer fined

A man has been fined for putting fox snares behind his house which strangled a neighbour’s pet cat. Christopher Deekoff, 47, of Lane End Cottages, Kirby-le-Soken, was found guilty of criminal damage and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal when he appeared at Witham magistrates on 4/7/00.

The owner of the cat told the court how a neighbour had come to his house saying she had found his missing cat hanging by his neck from a snare attached to an iron stake.

Deekoff said he had been setting snares for 16 years to capture foxes trying to steal the chickens he kept in his back yard. Deekoff was fined £200 for causing an animal unnecessary suffering and ordered to pay £500 costs.