Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Trigger warning animal abuse. AIBU to think these sentences were ridiculous

35 replies

Rosscameasdoody · 04/08/2025 20:20

Just heard on the news that two little kittens were found dead in a wooded area in West London. They had been tortured with an array of weapons including scissors, knives, and a blow torch. Both of them were cut open and one of them was found hanging in a tree.

A boy and a girl, both 17 were charged with animal cruelty and both were given custodial sentences of twelve months and nine months respectively, despite the boy admitting in court that he was killing animals because he had dreamed of killing humans. He intended to buy three more kittens to satisfy his craving.

Am I unreasonable in thinking that these sentences are totally inappropriate for such cruelty and that the authorities need to take this much more seriously - both for the cruelty inflicted on these two helpless little animals, and the wider implications of what they did, given that cruelty to animals is often a precursor to harm to humans. I despair of what is happening to our youth if they can inflict this sort of inhumane treatment to fellow creatures with such callousness and lack of remorse.

OP posts:
TheFormidableMrsC · 04/08/2025 20:22

I agree. They are psychopaths. The boy admitted he wanted to murder somebody. He’ll be back in the news one day and “lessons will be learned”. I couldn’t read the details, they were too horrific.

GrumpyCowBag · 04/08/2025 20:29

I was absolutely horrified when I read this news. It is terrifying to think what these kids will be like when they’re older. And just can’t stop picturing and hearing those poor babies. I feel traumatised by just reading it. How can kids do that :(

zebrazoop · 04/08/2025 20:47

Heard it on the news today, absolutely awful

Muffsies · 04/08/2025 20:53

It's terrifying to think there are people like this out there, of course their behaviour will escalate. Here in Oxford there was someone recently who started torturing cats to actually murdering a drunk man and dumping him in the river.

Rosscameasdoody · 04/08/2025 20:57

GrumpyCowBag · 04/08/2025 20:29

I was absolutely horrified when I read this news. It is terrifying to think what these kids will be like when they’re older. And just can’t stop picturing and hearing those poor babies. I feel traumatised by just reading it. How can kids do that :(

This is how I feel. Can’t get the sound of their cries as they were being tortured and cut out of my head. It’s terrifying to think that anyone could be so wicked. I’ll probably be flamed for this but I really think in cases like these some sort of punishment to bring home the pain inflicted is appropriate - not only for the poor animals involved, but in respect of how this can escalate. It’s been known for years that serial killers are often responsible for horrendous animal cruelty before they start on humans. How they can deem a year in custody appropriate given what he’s admitted to is beyond me.

OP posts:
ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 20:59

I don’t see how they could release him given he has admitted he wants to kill humans and the kittens were just a temporary measure to satisfy the craving to kill while he apparently researched how to get away with murdering a human ???

AllPlayedOut · 04/08/2025 21:00

The only appropriate use for people who do things like this is as fertiliser. That is the only positive thing that they’ll ever contribute to society is when they die. I firmly believe that anyone who could do something like this is completely irredeemable, deserve no second chances and have absolutely no place in society.

BotterMon · 04/08/2025 21:00

Ridiculous sentences. Surely he's a danger to society and she doesn't sound any better.

ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 21:00

These two also apparently went missing a month after the arrest for this atrocity and were found with a bag containing amongst other things tins of tuna ? They are showing dedication it seems to their evil obsession

XenoBitch · 04/08/2025 21:00

This reminds me of 'Don't Fuck with Cats", where internet sleuths tracked down a guy who had been torturing and killing cats, who then went on to kill a person.

I am pretty sure it is a known thing that some killers started with animals.

I do think that custodial sentences for animal cruelty are far too lenient.

AllPlayedOut · 04/08/2025 21:02

And yes it’s very likely that they’ll move onto humans though this is more than horrific enough to justify a very long sentence(And worse if I had my way.) But sentences for animal cruelty are a joke.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 04/08/2025 21:04

A pair of vile, sadistic little scroats. And of course the boy is suggested to have ADHD so that makes it all alright...
In a few years time they'll be out and have killed someone and they'll be all sorts of questions about why nobody saw it coming.
It also shouldn't have been reported, it helps nobody and is likely to result in other sick fuckers copying the behaviours.
There are times when I despair of humankind

ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 21:04

AllPlayedOut · 04/08/2025 21:02

And yes it’s very likely that they’ll move onto humans though this is more than horrific enough to justify a very long sentence(And worse if I had my way.) But sentences for animal cruelty are a joke.

A 12 and 9 month sentence and lifetime ban on having pets is a recipe for disaster when they have admitted they were using animals as a way to satisfy an evil urge to kill. Being free and not having access to animals will then result in one or both of them seeking out something else vulnerable to kill. It’s not good at all I just hope there’s something behind the scenes in place to monitor them somehow ?

ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 21:06

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 04/08/2025 21:04

A pair of vile, sadistic little scroats. And of course the boy is suggested to have ADHD so that makes it all alright...
In a few years time they'll be out and have killed someone and they'll be all sorts of questions about why nobody saw it coming.
It also shouldn't have been reported, it helps nobody and is likely to result in other sick fuckers copying the behaviours.
There are times when I despair of humankind

Apparently the suspect ASD and ADHD ? Not diagnosed just suspected but I don’t think that’s relevant at all. You can have any medical issue alongside being evil. I know so many children and adults with ASD/ ADHD or both and they don’t harm animals . It’s neither a reason nor an excuse for cruelty.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/08/2025 21:11

Vile sub-humans .
I saw the headline but not the details -
put me in mind of those people who make and distribute the monkey torture videos and those who pay to watch them.
They are only a few steps away from murdering a human, scary how similar a tiny vulnerable monkey and a tiny vulnerable baby are .

Poor kittens being someones entry level into torture .

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 04/08/2025 21:15

ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 21:06

Apparently the suspect ASD and ADHD ? Not diagnosed just suspected but I don’t think that’s relevant at all. You can have any medical issue alongside being evil. I know so many children and adults with ASD/ ADHD or both and they don’t harm animals . It’s neither a reason nor an excuse for cruelty.

I agree -- but it's reported on the BBC website - so clearly the journos think it's relevant.
Personally I don't give a flying fuck what diagnosis they do or don't have. I just think that when someone's behaviour is so far from societal norms that they think this activity is acceptable, they simply don't deserve freedom.

Fangisnotacoward · 04/08/2025 21:34

I read that story and I was i hadn't. Like you its stuck with me all evening, I cannot comprehend the suffering they gleefully inflicted on those poor animals. What kind of sicko enjoys that, I just can't fathom it.

Suspended sentences? Absolute joke. A ban isn't going to stop them, I think they'll find other ways to continue their torture. Maybe some Internet sleuths will find out who they are.

TheFormidableMrsC · 04/08/2025 21:51

ttcafterheartbreak · 04/08/2025 21:06

Apparently the suspect ASD and ADHD ? Not diagnosed just suspected but I don’t think that’s relevant at all. You can have any medical issue alongside being evil. I know so many children and adults with ASD/ ADHD or both and they don’t harm animals . It’s neither a reason nor an excuse for cruelty.

I am sick of that being made an excuse for such vile behaviour. I have two ND children, one AuDHD. I work with SEN children. Animal torture and cruelty is not a feature of neurodiversity nor is it an excuse. They are psychopaths.

ClareBlue · 05/08/2025 00:19

He told us what he's going to do and demonstrated the capacity for sadism, so he's not bluffing. The question now is what the State Agencies we fund and entrust with legal powers are going to do about it. Because learning lessons after a tragic event involving this guy are not going to wash.

Bretonsoup · 05/08/2025 01:12

Horrendous. Psychopathic to derive pleasure from harming something defenceless. Breaks my heart.

coxesorangepippin · 05/08/2025 02:56

I just saw this

Their sentences are absolutely shocking.

I despair of the world we live in

Enrichetta · 05/08/2025 03:01

I only read the headline as I couldn’t bear to find out the details.

So they’ll be out in 4.5/6 months with good behaviour and just left to get on with their lives - without any kind of psychiatric assessment or treatment?

Totally insane.

XWKD · 05/08/2025 04:24

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

Fred and Rosemary West.

These two.

Brendahollowayreconsider · 05/08/2025 04:46

The blood lust within these two will not be quelled easily.
Like other pp have said I doubt it would take much to move on to a person.

Beachtastic · 05/08/2025 09:45

I'd suspend them ALMOST out of reach in the tiger den at the zoo, so that the cat family can show them who's the apex predator. Popcorn freely available for the spectacle.

They're clearly wired up so wrong that they cannot possibly be allowed in society.

Swipe left for the next trending thread