Woman who killed mother in cat row jailed

A WOMAN who admitted killing her mother in a fight over the family cat has been jailed.

Julie Martin, 32, pushed Greta Dewer and compressed her neck during the fight in October last year. A court heard the two had consumed a "substantial quantity" of alcohol before a row erupted over "minor matters" involving where the family cat would stay.

At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Lord Bannatyne sentenced Martin - who had earlier admitted a charge of culpable homicide - to three years and three months in prison.

Martin, who lived in Paisley, fought her mother at her house in Park Green in Erskine, Renfrewshire, on 23 October.

Before the sentence was passed, Ian Duguid, QC, defending, told the court: "This death arose really out of a disagreement over a very, very minor matter.

"I think, amongst other things, whether or not the family cat was going to reside in one particular location or another."