Youth crushed hedgehog through boredom when high on drugs , court heard

The 15-year-old, who told police he had taken “meow meow” - street slang for banned designer drug mephedrone - dropped a heavy metal plate onto the helpless animal before standing on it, the youth court was told on Thursday, June 26.
The boy, who lives in Greenham but who can not be named for legal reasons, had earlier broken into a compound at Baxter Healthcare Ltd in Wallingford Road, Compton, and stolen a ladder.
Helen Gambrill, prosecuting, said he and another youth had been spotted on CCTV and police used a sniffer dog to track them to a nearby garden, where they were arrested.
She added: “He said he did all this because it was something to do and that he was under the influence of ‘meow meow.’”
On another occasion, the court heard, he entered the Kennet Centre in Newbury - from which he was banned for previous offending - and pushed a youth through a wall panel, causing damage worth hundreds of pounds.
The youth admitted stealing a ladder from Baxter Healthcare on May 4 this year and causing crimninal damage to the Kennet Centre two days later.
He also has three cautions for previous offending, the court heard.
However Ms Gambrill said a charge of using a weapon to kill a wild animal contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act was not being proceeded with.
She said: “The Youth Offending Team has agreed to speak to him about it, so it’s being dealt with that way.”
Ben May, defending, said the Kennet Centre incident was just “horsing around” and added: “May I remind Your Worships that he doesn’t stand charged with the death of the animal?”
The youth told the court that during the raid on Baxter Healthcare he was on drugs, adding: “I didn’t know what I was doing,” before apologising for his latest offending.
Magistrates made him subject to a four month referral order and ordered him to pay £30 compensation to the Kennet Centre - 10 per cent of the actual damage cost.