The Shuttle reports,
A FORMER parliamentary candidate from Kidderminster was locked up for bludgeoning the family cat to death with a walking stick in a fit of rage.
Michael Dixon was sentenced to four months in prison with a lifetime ban on keeping animals, after he lost his temper and battered the pet, leaving her to die in a pool of blood, before calmly telling his family: “I’ve killed the cat.”
The horrific attack happened at the former LibDem candidate’s home in Warbler Place on May 14 last year, after five-year-old Tipsy scratched his grandson.
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21 Comments
It would appear that the LibDem cat killer may have been driven to moggiemurder because of his poor electoral showing a few days earlier in the GE.
Daily Mail piece is more informative and includes the comment :
In the General Election, Dixon gained 6,550 votes – 15.66 per cent – when he stood as a Lib Dem candidate in the Birmingham Northfield seat.
He came third behind the Conservative candidate Keely Huxtable and Labour MP Richard Burden.
The cat, who they had kept for five years, died in agony up to half an hour after being beaten by the prospective MP who speaks out on crime and policing.
This is really nothing to do with politics.
(I don’t mean it’s not worthy of a small story on LDV.)
The chap sounds utterly unhinged. That’s all there is to it.
A law that puts a man (who’s elderly by the sound of it) in jail for hitting a cat with a walking stick when it’s attacked a (small by the sound of it) child is utterly unhinged. We do really need to tell the ‘animal welfare’ bullies to get stuffed in this country. And to learn some respect for people.
This is not newsworthy
@Chris
you are unbelievable.
When you take on a pet, you take on a commitment for the rest of that animals life, to care for and love.
If the animal becomes unruly and you are unable to cope, then you put him up for adoption, not bludgeon it to death with a stick.
So the cat, scratched the kid, chances are the child was tormenting the cat in the first place, either way no animal deserves this sort of treatment.
People may say this is not news worthy, Of Course it is, This guy was potentially going to be an MP. Fortunately he lost, we have enough politicians with multiple personality disorders as it is, without adding another nutcase to the chambers.
If you are still wondering whether this is news worthy and if he deserved a jail sentence, then read the whole story and look at the horrifying pictures of what he done.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3462227/Would-be-MP-battered-family-cat-to-death.html
Four months is a derisory sentence for doing that. This sort of thing brings out the hang em and flog em in me
Just what is it with Lib Dems (and West Midlands ones in particular) and cats? First John Hemming and the bizarre alleged kidnap of the mother of his child’s cat by his ex wife and now this.
@ben
Of course this is newsworthy – a parliamentary candidate ten months ago acting like a caged animal himself. It should also be noted that Mike Dixon worked as the Lib Dem organiser in Birmingham and had been an Agent for a number of parliamentary election in the West Midlands previously.
@Chris
Firstly, Mike Dixon is not elderly. Secondly, do you really think it should be lawful to bludgeon a cat to death? The criminal law is there to reflect the values and morals in our society and punish those who have been found to have fallen below these. I would think that 99.9% of the population would be appalled at this behaviour and would deem it criminal.
@Majeed
I agree that four months is a derisory sentence for these actions. I am someone who is involved in the justice system and could certainly not be put in the ‘hang em and flog em’ camp, but these kinds of sentenses (and many other short sentences for obnoxious acts) do much harm to the criminal justice system and to the public’s confidence in it. If we had a sentencing structure which better reflected the actions of those convicted, more action could be taken to persuade people of the virtues of rehabilitation and a more enlightened and liberal approach to prison and justice.
‘Sentenses’ above should obviously have read ‘sentences’!
Apologies – I am aware that in some circles errors in spelling and grammar are tantamount to murdering a poor feline………
This disgusting excuse for a human being should be locked up and the key thrown away. Maybe a flogging of the type he used on a poor defenceless animal should be done to him.
@Chris who said: ‘A law that puts a man (who’s elderly by the sound of it) in jail for hitting a cat with a walking stick when it’s attacked a (small by the sound of it) child is utterly unhinged. We do really need to tell the ‘animal welfare’ bullies to get stuffed in this country. And to learn some respect for people.’
So many disturbing things raised by this post from Chris who is making judgements without possession of the full facts or even an attempt to understand them it would seem.
1) Being elderly is no defence against being given a jail sentence if that is what a judge believes is merited.
2) He wasn’t elderly anyway being only 53 and apparently in possession of his mental faculties having been a PPC and holding other political positions
3) It’s obvious that this wasn’t an instantaneous reaction to the cat scratching a child – if you read the story you will see that it was a calculated course of action where he went and got the stick and then went upstair, locked the door behind him and attacked the cat.
4) The cat’s skull was broken into 10 pieces which is evidence of a repeated attack and not just one blow.
5) The cat was a family pet for 5 years so it’s highly unlikely that is was ‘dangerous’ in any sense.
6) I have had cats and dogs all of my life and it’s quite possible the cat did scratch the child – the only time I have seen this happen was when a child was tormenting a cat and holding the cat which couldn’t escape and reacted instinctively. I’ve also seen the same things with dogs.
7) There is the question of whether there was any adult supervision of the child and the cat and it’s quite interesting that none of the stories I’ve read explains what led up to the scrath which leads me to believe supervision was lacking.
8) I have often been nipped by dogs over the years usually realtion to food issues or overexcitement during play – always my fault when considered from the animal’s point of view and I have little doubt something was done to the cat before it scratched.
9) I think the difference here is summed up in the one word ‘instinctive’ as the cat is a wild animal in contrast to the calculated actions of the civilised human being. He also ignored repeated appeals to stop from his family.
You know Chris there is a saying about the way to judge any society is in how it looks after it’s elderly, sick and poor and I would add animals to that. It is obvious where you stand in that balance and I just hope you have no ambitions for public office and do not have control of any animals.
@Chris
As an animal lover I’m sickened by this story. It’s also a fact that people who are capable of torturing animals are often the same people who assault their fellow human beings. Cruelty is cruelty.
This person held himself out several times to be both a Local Councillor and an MP and thus should have been an example to the community he sought to represent. Instead he has shown himself by the brutality of which he has been found guilty and sentenced to be unworthy of such a position and I trust no reputable Political Party be it Left, Right or Centre, will ever put him up as a Candidate again..
He has been sent to prison for punishment. I would remind people that even amongst prisoners in jail there is a code of honour and they have an intense dislike for those who beat up the elderly or disabled, sexually assault children or are cruel to pet animals. I feel that he will have a very “interesting” time in prison especially as the tabloids have picked up the story. I have not one atom of sympathy for him and feel he truly deserves whatever is coming to him.
I am glad to read that the Lib-Dems have expelled him from membership.
What a waste of time story.
Ok Greg Tattersall, it’s not a burning political issue, it won’t cure the Lib-Dems slide in the Opinion Polls nor prevent a melt-down as in Barnsley-Central, it won’t bring down the Coalition nor precipitate an early General Election. However, it IS in the tabloids and I am sure is of interest to many people, whatever their political allegiance, if any. Many citizens have pet animals and I believe these days, possibly because of the number of single people living ini flats, the cat has overtaken the dog as the pet of choice.
Now only an idiot would try to link this dreadful person’s politics with his brutal action of killing the cat, behaviour one would only expect from a Storm-trooper or a Red Guard, but had the editor of this Forum chosen to ignore this matter I am sure that others would have tried to a make us of it.
This disgraceful incident is in the public domain, and I would think that Lid-Dems and others would wish comment upon it.
I agree with “Chris”. What a wicked, nasty, person. He should never have owned a pet. They say that people who attack animals often then go on to attack people. Seems to have a very nasty temper that could be directed at anyone. Glad the Lib Dems got rid of him.
A correction. It wasn’t Chris I was agreeing with at all – quite the opposite. It was Martin’s comments that I wholeheartedly agree with.
What a revolting character that bloke obviously is. Years ago I attended a court case in which someone had beaten his puppy to death with a chain. IIRC he got two years. This nauseating character should have got a similar sentence.
I wanted to write to this apology for a human being and spell out how despicable he is but can’t find his address anywhere. There is no way that his jail sentence will compensate for what he has done to that poor animal and to think that the person the cat had lived with for five years turned on it in such a way is heartbreaking. This man is totally wrapped up in his own anger and misery and has no control over himself. He should be made to work for a charity which protects animals as part of his punishment. He needs to understand that what he has done is horrific and has caused many people disgust and anguish. His education in compassion must have been missed somewhere along the way. Animals need to be protected by us as we hold the power and are supposed to be intelligent. What hope for the human race while this type of person can achieve positions of authority??
@Ecojon
Just to clear up a few facts – there was sufficient adult supervision and the “child” – my son, did not torment the cat. The cat was hiding under the table and my son just happened to walk past when the cat reached out a paw and scratched him on the leg. This cat definately did not like children therefore my son was aware not to attempt to touch the cat. My son had a small scratch but was absolutely fine. Before you judge me if I had really believed he was capable of killing the cat I would have done everything within my power to stop him. I took the cat and reported him and have lost my family due to this.
To Sally Dixon – I’ve only just seen your post. What a dreadful situation you’ve been put in – I only hope your family will come to realise that you did the right thing, and that you are as much an innocent victim as the unfortunate cat.