Bristol-based rookie lawyer pleads guilty after she left her dog to starve to death.
A trainee solicitor at the Bristol office of leading national law firm Lyons Davidson is bracing herself for a possible custodial sentence after admitting to animal cruelty.
Katy Gammon locked her dog without food and water and tied the door shut with a rope, before going to work. The 27 year-old then failed to check on the dog — a boxer called Roxy — for a week and went to stay with her mother. The animal died a slow and painful death during this time, with its body only discovered after neighbours called the police.
Horrified RSPCA inspector Chris James told the court how a stream of maggots had crawled from the dead dog down the hallway to where there were tins of dog food on a table. The Western Daily Press has the gory details of the dog’s extremely unpleasant death.
Gammon was described by her solicitor as “mortified on every level for all the suffering she caused Roxy”. But, speaking after the hearing, RSPCA Inspector Miranda Albinson said she had “shown no remorse”. Gammon will be sentenced at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 9 April, with the two offences she admitted — causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and failing to prevent causing unnecessary suffering to an animal — each carrying a maximum sentence of six months in prison and possible fines of £20,000.
Chair of the Bench Patricia Lee told Gammon: “This is a very serious offence — so serious that there’s no way we can sentence today. We need a full report about you and your circumstances and everything about you.”
A spokesperson from Lyons Davidson said: “Katy was a trainee solicitor at the firm. She is no longer employed by us and hasn’t been for some time.”