Man on cruelty charge after making chicken drink whisky

A man who forced a chicken to drink whisky and blew cannabis smoke in its face before suffocating has been spared a jail term.

Gary Maxwell, 21, smashed another hen's head repeatedly against a shed wall until its neck snapped in Consett, County Durham.



He was sentenced to an 18-month community order with supervision by the district judge sitting at Consett Magistrates' Court after she heard he had stopped drinking and taking drugs.

Maxwell, now of Bentinck Terrace, Newcastle, was ordered to pay £8 compensation to the hens' owner.