Man ‘decapitated ex-lover’s pet hamster with machete’

A jealous boyfriend decapitated his ex-lover’s pet hamster with a machete in an “uncontrollable rage”, a court has heard. Anthony Taylor, 29, forced his way into Katie Hendrie’s home, demanding to know if she had been sleeping with other men, jurors were told. In a fit of fury, Taylor smashed up the property before raising the blade above his head and dropping it on the hamster cage, splitting it in half, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

He then said, “If you think that’s bad, watch this” before slicing the animal’s head off and flushing its corpse down the toilet, it is claimed. When Ms Hendrie started crying, Taylor allegedly warned her that her pet puppy would be next if she didn’t stop sobbing. The ordeal is said to have lasted some eight hours, during which Taylor is accused of holding Ms Hendrie hostage in her home in Walthamstow, East London, last October 21, causing her to fear for her life.



Giving evidence behind a screen, Ms Hendrie said: "If he could kill a hamster and have no remorse about it what could he do to me?" Brian Argyle, prosecuting, said: “He was in an uncontrollable rage - he had a machete-style knife and she was terrified her life was in danger. He used the knife to smash the fireplace and Ms Hendrie ran past him into the kitchen.

“He pinned her against the worktop, put his hands her face and said, ‘Why are you such a f***ing slut?’. Ms Hendrie was scared that if she tried to escape, the defendant might try to stab her.” Taylor, from Chingford, East London, eventually left after a neighbour, who heard screaming and shouting, knocked on the door, the court was told. He denies false imprisonment, criminal damage and common assault.