Thatcham man Stephen Smith shot cat for peeing in his garden

A MAN shot a neighbour’s cat for urinating in his garden.

Miraculously, Harry the cat survived, with a projectile lodged near his heart.

But then a vet made a grim discovery – it was not the first time he had been shot.

A ‘terminator’ brand pellet from a previous shooting injury was still lodged inside him.

Suspicion immediately fell on Stephen Smith, who had threatened to kill Harry on numerous occasions.

Police found an illegal, overpowered air rifle in his garage at Rudland Close in Thatcham.

But the 52-year-old HGV driver denied he was the shooter and maintained his innocence until the day the trial was scheduled, before changing his pleas.

Andrew Judge, prosecuting at Reading Crown Court on Monday, March 4, said Harry’s owner, Janette Drewitt, lived near Smith.

He added “One day she noticed Harry was bleeding heavily and contacted the out-of-hours emergency vet.”

An air rifle pellet was lodged in his shoulder near the heart and could not be removed.

But the vet found a second pellet, from a much older wound, in Harry’s leg and this was successfully operated on.

For months, Harry would “screech in pain” if stroked, the court heard.

Mr Judge added: “The defendant, on multiple occasions, had threatened to shoot and kill Harry.

“He would say: ‘That f****** cat – I’m going to shoot that cat; I’m going to shoot that cat, take it to work and dump it in a skip.’”

On another occasion, the court heard, when Ms Drewitt said it looked like Harry had been kicked, Smith replied: “You can see why someone would kick him – he goes around spraying.”

Police found an overpowered air rifle, which was illegal to own without a firearms certificate, on Smith’s property.

The ‘terminator’ brand pellets found lodged in Harry matched those from the weapon, the court heard.

On the day the trial was scheduled, and expert witnesses assembled, Smith changed his pleas and admitted causing criminal damage by shooting Harry on January 17, 2021.

He further admitted possessing a firearm without a firearm certificate on the same occasion.

Ms Drewitt explained in a statement that they had adopted Harry from previous owners who had lived in Smith’s current home.

She said: “He liked to be outside.”

Since the kicking and shootings, said Ms Drewitt, Harry is “not as loving and is nervous about sounds”.

She added: “He’s not as cuddly or affectionate as he used to be.”

Paul Fairley, defending, said Harry had driven Smith “to the end of his tether” by urinating on his property and fighting with his own cat.

He added: “He is of a generation where ownership of air rifles was fairly common.

“He never, at any stage, realised there was a possibility that certificates were required; it’s not something he would have contemplated.”

Mr Fairley went on: “His wife, who sits in court, is absolutely sick with worry about what sort of sentence he will get.

“His employer has made clear that an immediate custodial sentence would result in him losing his job, and that could lead to the loss of the house.”

Judge Hassan Khan said that, although the pellet lodged in Harry’s shoulder had not killed him, “it clearly could have done”.

He added: “I don’t accept that he just wanted to shoo the cat away.

“There was a high degree of planning and serious distress caused; the owner of the cat is vulnerable and so is a defenceless animal, and that shouldn’t be ignored.”

He sentenced Smith to 13 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

In addition he ordered Smith to pay £2,000 costs and £2,000 compensation to Ms Drewitt.

Finally, Smith was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work.