Trainee Lawyer Jailed Over Dog’s Death
Sky News – Wed, Apr 9, 2014
A trainee solicitor has been jailed for 18 weeks after being convicted of locking her pet dog in a kitchen and leaving it to die.
Katy Gammon, 27, abandoned five-year-old boxer Roxy without food or water when she left her home in Bristol.
The dog’s remains were not found for 10 weeks until neighbors reported a large number of flies around the property.
RSPCA inspectors were forced to remove Roxy’s remains from the kitchen floor with a snow shovel.
The dog suffered a “prolonged and painful” death over a six-day period, a post-mortem examination found.
Bristol Magistrates’ Court was told that the dog had shredded part of the kitchen door in an attempt to escape and emptied
mops and buckets from cupboards to find water.
Shockingly, Gammon had piled tins of dog food and dog treats outside the kitchen – just feet away from where Roxy was
locked inside.
Gammon later admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and failing to prevent causing unnecessary suffering to an
animal.
Dressed in a black suit, she remained emotionless in the dock as she was told her actions were “deliberate”.
“This was prolonged neglect of a dog where she was locked in a house and left to die of starvation and dehydration,” said Rod
Mayall, chair of the bench.
“You have shown limited remorse. Although you were somewhat depressed, you failed to take up at least two offers of
alternative housing for the dog. You failed to act as any normal person would.
“This is the most serious incident of animal cruelty that we have encountered in these courts.”
Gammon was also banned from keeping animals for life.
The trainee solicitor, whose career is now at an end, had acquired Roxy while living with her boyfriend, Adam Taylor, in
December 2012. The couple separated in April 2013.
In a victim impact statement, Mr. Taylor said he had felt “physically sick” after seeing photographs of Roxy’s remains in the
kitchen.
“Roxy was mistreated by her previous owner. She used to panic if she was left alone and would become distressed,” he told
the court.
“I don’t understand why Katy did this. She had so many friends and family who would have taken Roxy and would have
helped her.”
https://www.facebook.com/Memorial4Roxy
Katy Gammon, a vile disgusting, subhuman faces prison after leaving her pet dog to starve to death locked in a kitchen for more than a week when she went to live with her mother at LAWRENCE WESTON – leaving her five-year-old boxer Roxy trapped without food and water.
She failed to check on the dog for a week – during which time the animal died in agony.
The ex-boyfriend of the murderer who left a dog to die speaks out: “Why didn’t she ask for help with the dog we took in?”
“Justice for Roxy”: Petition seeks a jail sentence for Bristol woman who left a dog to die
The dog lay undiscovered for ten weeks by which time her body was so decomposed an RSPCA inspector had to use a snow shovel to “scrape her off the floor”.
RSPCA inspector Chris James told how a stream of maggots had crawled from the kitchen down the hallway – to where there were unopened tins of dog food on a table.
Gammon, 27, trapped the dog in her home on Campbell Farm Drive in Bristol by tying a rope to the kitchen door handle and fixing it to a hook in the hallway.
Roxy had frantically clawed at the door and the floor, trying in vain to escape before dying – a process that would have taken around six days.
Gammon faked a few tears as she admitted two counts of animal cruelty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court this morning.
She pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and failing to prevent causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Lindi Meyer, prosecuting for the RPSCA, told Bristol magistrates how Gammon and her boyfriend “took in” the dog in December 2012.
When they split up Gammon was left as the sole carer and left Roxy alone all day as she went to work at her job, which she has since been fired from, at Lyons Davidson Solicitors 51 Victoria St, Bristol, City of Bristol BS1 6AD. Tel: 0117 904 6000 .
She said Roxy began to urinate and defecate in the house in Campbells Farm Drive so Gammon confined it to the kitchen while she was out – locking it in with the rope.
At the end of August last year, Gammon started staying with her mother in nearby Capel Road, Lawrence Weston and initially began returning to feed Roxy.
But she then dislocated her knee and told her mother that her ex-boyfriend was feeding the animal.
Miss Meyer said that was a lie and on November 3 a neighbor alerted police after seeing flies swarming in the kitchen of Gammon’s house.
Police arrived and were greeted by a strong smell of decomposition and the kitchen still closed with the rope.
They called the RSPCA and the remains of Roxy were removed for a post-mortem.
A vet said Roxy would have taken up to six days to die gradually, painfully, first becoming blind and falling into a coma before finally passing away.
Gammon was interviewed and admitted leaving Roxy for a week before going back to check on her – and finding a stench coming from her home.
She told RSPCA Inspector Miranda Albinson she had looked through the letterbox and been greeted by a smell so awful she couldn’t bear to go into the house.
Gammon said: “I assumed she was dead – I never went back.”
Ms. Albinson asked her: “You deliberately locked her in the kitchen and left her for a week to die, that correct?” Gammon replied: “Yes, basically.”
Joanna Lyons, defending, said Gammon now had “genuine remorse” for the suffering she had caused and was “absolutely mortified on every level”. NOT!
She said Gammon appeared to have ‘some psychiatric issues’ (MORE LIKE PURE EVIL) and asked for sentencing to be adjourned for the preparing of a pre-sentence report.
Gammon was told she would be sentenced on April 9 and given unconditional bail.
Patricia Lee, chairwoman of the bench, told her: “This is a very serious offense – so serious that there is no way we can sentence today.
Gammon, who wore a dark suit and appeared on crutches, left without comment.
Afterwards RSPCA Inspector Albinson added: “This is one of the worst cases we have ever come across.
“The police who attended the scene were genuinely upset by it and they investigate human murders.
“She showed no remorse whatsoever in interview.
[vimeo 90107717 w=500 h=375]
“A Requiem for Roxy” from Lee Gaskin on Vimeo.
POS!!!
I would love to starve her to the point of death and see how she feels she is inhumane. thank you for your work you are all Angel God Bless you xx
Only a vile, sick, sub-human person could do this. I believe that she, and all others like her, should go directly to mental institutions when their sentence is up, and spend the rest of their lives there.
Trainee Lawyer Jailed Over Dog’s Death
Sky News – Wed, Apr 9, 2014
A trainee solicitor has been jailed for 18 weeks after being convicted of locking her pet dog in a kitchen and leaving it to die.
YOU MIS-READ THE TEXT, ITS 18 WEEKS, NOT DAYS!!!!! Please fix your headline, people are very upset, thinking she got 18 days.
18 weeks is still not enough time for this b*tch! She should rot in hell!
Nooooo! Katy Gammon was sentenced to 18 WEEKS!! 9 of them to be spend in custody and the remaining 9 out on licence! Not long enough…but better than 18 days!
This woman is a psycopath and should be in jail for life. I’ve never wanted another person dead until now.
This psychopathic bitch should be left to die as the poor dog . You rot in hell Gammon !
It’s absolutely disgusting that she could do this to such a lovely animal.I work for an animal charity myself.And it really gets me angry to see where we rescue neglected and abused animals and nurture them back to health.You get an on evil and vile person like this starving an animal to death with no forethought or conscience at all.
There should be a sentence for people that what they have done to an animal should be done to them.Unfortunately laws on animal cruelty sentencing is very lax in this country.If I saw this evil disgusting woman I would lock her up and starve her to death.
At least Roxy is free from all pain and suffering now.May she rest in peace God Bless her.This has made me so angry that tears were coming out of my eyes.
She looks like she should be starved, the vial fat bitch…really hope her living days on earth are total hell..
I’m not the type of person to wish harm onto anyone but when a person does something like this to a defenseless and helpless animal that person should have the worst of worst happen to them and I feel no pity for them so with that said She should have the same thing done to her lock her up with no water or food for a week that FAT BITCH I hope her life is hell forever and I wish every time she’s around and people See her they should throw rocks at her stone the bitch make everyday of her life hell in anyway way possible never let her forget what she did make her pay for it every day
That fat ass doesn’t look like she missed any meals.
Why did the author of this article, Alafair2010, say Katy Gammon was sentenced to 18 Days in this news article’s headline knowing it was 18 weeks instead?
It was obvously a typo! I fixed it thanks for brining to my attention