Murder probe over dog found dumped in its owners' pool

Police have launched a full-scale murder investigation over the mystery death of a dog. Forensics teams have been drafted in and the swimming pool where the terrier was found dead is being treated as a murder scene.

An officer justified the unusual move by arguing that the impact of the death was 'the same on the family as if it had been a person'. Six-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Sasha vanished from her owners' 300ft back garden.

Jacqueline and Mike Curley and their daughters Colleen, 20, and Erin, 12, scoured the whole neighbourhood, posting flyers and distributing leaflets in their search for their pet.



They also checked the pool at their home in Portsmouth, though it is raised 4ft above ground. But three days later Mrs Curley found Sasha lying face down in the blood-stained water.

Pc Jamie Ironmonger, from Hampshire police, said: 'We are treating it as if it was a murder scene. Dogs are a member of the family, not just a pet. The impact is the same on the family as if it had been a person.

'The owners are extremely upset and cannot believe that anybody could commit such a horrendous act to a defenceless animal and much loved family pet. We deal with horrible things all the time but something like this is an act of pure cruelty.'