Terror dog trainer faces jail for hanging animal

10:12am Wednesday 25th September 2002

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A DOG trainer who hanged a pet from a lead so it foamed at the mouth and passed out, could be sent to jail.

Stephen Barry King, who trained dogs from his centre in Barne Road, Bexley, was found guilty at Marylebone Magistrates' Court of cruelty to an animal and cruelly terrifying the same English bull terrier.

Miss Odette Hamilton, of Messent Road, Eltham, told of her horror when she saw King helicoptering' her two-year-old dog Gunner from a lead which twisted and swung a foot above the ground.

She said: "He was bleeding from the mouth. He was so scared he was pooing himself. He was choking and I had to turn around.

"King said to me He is going to understand when he feels the pain that he has to stop'."

Minutes earlier, Gunner tried to run off from outside Miss Hamilton's home when King removed his choke chain, which was on the wrong way.

The 41-year-old grabbed Gunner, but then wrapped a lead round his neck and lifted the dog into the air.

Later, as King's wife, Hayley King, 40, tried to clean Gunner's bloodied paws, he swung the dog's head from side to side every time it moved.

Miss Hamilton was talked into agreeing to King giving Gunner a fortnight's training at his home in Trafalgar Road, Greenwich.

The court heard Gunner returned terrified with cuts and scabs to his head. Mrs King claimed Gunner got the cuts from falling down stairs and crashing into his kennel.

Vet Jane Robson, who saw Gunner after his stay with King, said the incident outside Miss Hamilton's house would have made the dog feel like it was "literally fighting for its life".

And dog training expert Annette Conn, who helped train Gunner after his ordeal, said: "You don't normally see that level of terror in a dog unless it has been abused."

King denied the charges saying: "I have never done anything like that in my life."

He added: "You don't always give a dog an unpleasant response if it does something wrong, but it depends on the circumstances."

Hearing a guilty verdict, his solicitor Ricky Yau said King had suffered two years of persecution including threatening emails and an intruder and had given up dog training.

King begged to be disqualified from owning a dog "so this terror can end".

But Deputy District Judge Julie Cooper said: "I am not just looking into disqualifying you. I am looking into possible imprisonment for this matter." Sentencing is on October 15.