Dog on death-row for biting cat has days to live after appeal fails

A DOG sentenced to death for attacking a cat will be put down within a week after a last-ditch attempt to have the ruling overturned failed yesterday.

Tracy Jackson had asked the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to spare C-Jay, her two-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, after a court ruled that the dog should be destroyed for attacking Bobby, a 17-year-old cat.

Yesterday Ms Jackson received a letter from the SCCRC’s chief executive, Gerald Sinclair, in which he said that it would “not be in the interests of justice” to review the case.

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Ross Donnelly, Ms Jackson’s lawyer, confirmed that it is “the end of the road” for C-Jay, who is now expected to be put down within seven days.

The incident happened last February when C-Jay escaped from Ms Jackson’s garden in Dundee. The bull terrier got into a fight with the neighbour’s cat, breaking several bones. The cat has since made a full recovery.

Ms Jackson appeared before Dundee’s Justice of the Peace court last August where she pled guilty to failing to keep her pet under control. The JP ruled that C-Jay should be put down, and the dog was taken away from the family.

“It’s been devastating,” Ms Jackson, 36, said. “Where is the justice? Every dog will attack a cat – it doesn’t mean they deserve to die.” She said C-Jay had been “part of the family” and that her teenage daughter, Emma, was inconsolable.

Yesterday, Ms Jackson said she was devastated after the failure of her appeal. She said: “I have lost all faith in the Scottish justice system now. This has been a miscarriage of justice since the start.

“Emma is absolutely breaking her heart. We just want to see him one last time, just to say goodbye.

“Is it so much to ask to allow us to bury him? I don’t want him just to be dumped somewhere – that’s horrible.

“Other dogs bite humans and their owners get away with just a fine. My dog fights with a cat and he has to die.

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“Our hopes have constantly been built up that we’ll get C-Jay home and now they’ve just been destroyed. We’re heartbroken.”

Mr Donnelly said: “It looks like, unfortunately, we have now exhausted every possible avenue for appeal.

“I have received a letter from the Justice of the Peace court which advises that C-Jay will be destroyed within seven days, so we expect this will happen very soon.

“There were less harsh options available to the court and obviously we would argue that it should have gone down that road.”

In his letter, Mr Sinclair told Ms Jackson: “The commission has decided not to review your case as it considers that your present application has not included any stateable grounds for review. In the circumstances, the commission has decided that it would not be in the interests of justice to accept your application for review.

“It remains open to you in the future to reapply to the commission if new or materially different information comes to your attention.”