Police Handler Accused Of Leaving Dogs To Die
Posted by admin on November 10th, 2009A police dog handler has denied causing unnecessary suffering to two German shepherd dogs that died after being left in his car on a hot day.
He is accused of cruelty to the animals, whose deaths in June caused a public outcry. He failed to show up at
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court for two previous hearings but was told by a district judge to attend to enter his plea yesterday.
The Nottinghamshire police officer spoke only to give his name, age and plea, watched by his supporters crammed into the public gallery. PC Johnson’s solicitor, Damian Kelly, successfully applied to magistrates yesterday for a pre-trial review next month when, he said, two psychiatrists, a psychologist and PC Johnson’s wife would give evidence.
Temperatures on 30 June, the day the dogs died, reached 29.3C (84.7F).
Pc Johnson, who has been suspended from the Nottinghamshire force, will go on trial before a district judge at the same court on 22 February.
The dogs were found in the back of Pc Johnson’s car at Nottinghamshire Police headquarters in Arnold.
It is understood that Jet, who was 10 years old, came third at last year’s National Police Dog Championship and that 18-month-old Jay-Jay was being trained to replace the older dog.
Following the incident Nottingham- shire Chief Constable Julia Hodson said: “We have had a lot of emails, calls and letters from members of the public, most of whom want the officer involved dealt with most harshly.”
The RSPCA is bringing the prosecution, accusing Pc Johnson of “unnecessarily confining them in an environment that was detrimental to their well-being”.
Tags: cruelty, police dogs