Man killed neighbour's cat because it bullied him

A man battered a cat and threw it in a river to drown because he said it was a bully. Dougal Thorn said he punched his neighbour's pet and hurled its limp body in the river Adur after losing his temper.

Mr Thorn, 41, said he killed two-year-old Chopper on April 30 because it bullied his landlady's cat, Barney, and would get into his living room.

He said: "The cat became a menace. It bullied all the other cats in the area. Barney was terrified of it.Things were getting broken and the vase was knocked over with water and flowers everywhere. He looked pleased when he knocked over the vase.



"I knocked him unconscious with my hand and then threw it in the river. I have never done anything like that before. I absolutely regret doing it. I wish I could turn back time. I just lost it for a moment and made a terrible mistake."

Moments before he was arrested yesterday, Mr Thorn's landlady evicted him from his home in Anchor Close, Shoreham.

Chief Inspector Lawrence Hobbs, of Sussex Police, said Mr Thorn had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and officers were investigating the incident.

Photo from here.