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PC Mark Johnson, 39, one of the UK’s top dog handlers, who accidentally locked his two German Shepherds in the boot of his car for seven hours on the hottest day of the summer last June, was today found guilty of animal cruelty
Johnson, who pleaded not guilty, was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder that had led to him forgetting that 18-month-old Jay-Jay and Jet, seven, were in the back of the police vehicle
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard that when he returned hours later both police dogs were dead after temperatures inside the soared to more than 116F
He was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,500 costs after what a district judge called “an extremely difficult case” which reflected poorly on the force’s attitude to officers with mental health problems
Paul Taylor, prosecuting counsel for the RSPCA, said: “This highlights the dangers of leaving dogs in a motorcar on a hot day”
Mr Taylor said: “His usual routine would have been to transfer his dogs to a specially equipped police vehicle which had air cooling systems installed.
“But his routine was not followed on this day
“By the time he realised what had happened about seven hours had passed, he went out and found his dogs dead.”
Johnson, who was commended in 2008 after arresting a gunman who Jet had bitten, said: “I treated the dogs as members of the family and they were loved as such.”
District judge Tim Devas described the dogs’ deaths as “sad and regrettable”, but criticised the police for failing to help an officer struggling with depression
“I feel a police officer has been let down and this is for the benefit of the police: this is a dreadful error of judgment brought about by an illness way before it happened and PC Johnson should have been given more help … I cannot believe that in the 21st century, depression and men crying is so abhorrent to an institution that nothing can be done about it,” he said.
“I have no doubt that had PC Johnson received the help he needed then he wouldn’t be standing before me here today,” said the judge, adding that he was satisfied that the officer had no intention of causing any harm to his animals.
He added: “PC Johnson, I hope you can rebuild your life and career at the end of this.”
An assistant chief constable of the Nottinghamshire police, Peter Davies, said dog handlers must now take their animals directly to kennels on arrival at work and that a fob system was being piloted alerting handlers to temperature changes inside vehicles
SOURCES:
* Sky News
* Guardian
