RSPCA SPEND £13K PROSECUTING MENTALLY ILL CAT OWNER

BENEFIT CHEATS, MUGGERS, FRAUDULENT POLITICIANS WALK OUR STREETS PUNISHED BY REPRIMAND AND FINES WHILST PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP ARE JAILED.

YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE RSPCA TARGETTING THE VUNERABLE.

A FORMER housing officer who left eight cats to die has been jailed.

Teresa Coogan, 44, was locked up for 16 weeks after a case at Salford Magistrates.

Asim Ali, defending Coogan, who had worked as a housing officer and ran her own counselling business, said she 'allowed things to get on top of her'.

He added that she had suffered domestic abuse, had lost her job and fallen into a 'vicious circle' that had left her contemplating her own life.
She pleaded guilty to 14 mistreatment offences at an earlier hearing.
Sentencing her to 26 weeks in custody, reduced to 16 weeks for her guilty plea, chair of the bench John Horton said there were no physical signs she had tried to kill herself.
At this point a friend of Coogan's, who had earlier threatened an M.E.N. photographer outside court, leapt to his feet in the gallery and hurled abuse at Mr Horton. He was led away by security guards.
Coogan was also banned from keeping animals but can appeal in five years.
The defendant, who wore a balaclava outside court, stood motionless in the dock as the sentence was passed.
The prosecution cost over £13,000. As Coogan is on benefits the RSPCA will have to foot the bill.
Inspector Melissa Furey, who first attended Coogan's house, welcomed the sentence.

She said: “This was an extremely sad and emotional case. The house was in an appalling state and the cats were subjected to horrendous conditions.
“This sentence should act as a deterrent to people in future.
COMMENT
The RSPCA seem to have no intention of implementing a strategy to deal with compulsive animal hoarding inspite of their many millions. The vast majority of RSPCA prosecutions involve the mentally ill, the disabled and pensioners the oldest of whom was in his nineties. Compare this with crime in general - the vast majority of crime in Britain is NOT commited by the mentally ill, the disabled and elderly people. People in the above catogories are seen as easy targets, prosecutions provide free publicity for the RSPCA which leads to increases in donations. It is high time the government launched a review, we have the disability descrimination act in this country and the RSPCA is not above the law.


Maria Smith



http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1185437_jail_for_woman_who_left_cats_to_die