Man jailed for stealing and killing pet ferrets

WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find upsetting.

A man who stole pet ferrets from his neighbour which were killed by dogs has been jailed.

Axel Read, 24, broke into the animal enclosures at the home of Laice Cleough, in the Upperby area of Carlisle, and stole her two ferrets on 1 August 2024. Cleough later found her pets dead, one in a nearby bin and the other close by.

She said she was left "paranoid and sick" from the incident, which was "still raw, and I get upset and tearful even thinking about it".

Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court, Read was found guilty of five offences including causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and jailed for 15 months.

The court heard Cleough returned to her home and found her pets, called Pumpkin and Latte, missing from their cage.

She found bins had been stacked on top of each other nearby her home and when she checked a neighbour's CCTV footage, she saw Read, who she knew well, and an unidentified male stealing the ferrets in the night while she was away.

After finding her ferrets dead near her home, Read was arrested and denied being responsible for the theft and the ferrets' deaths.

Read, of Marks Avenue, Carlisle, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, both by causing a ferret to be destroyed by a dog and causing a ferret to be taken from its protected enclosure, resulting in its death.

He was also found guilty of stealing and destroying the ferrets and making a threat to destroy Cleough's car and home.

Cleough, who tearfully read her impact statement in court, said: "The incident has made me feel very paranoid that someone is in my house."

She said she was scared to leave her house for fear of "seeing Axel as he is unpredictable".

"I also had to take time of work as I would always picture the incident, and it made me feel paranoid and sick thinking about what he did to my ferrets," she said.

She also said she had installed cameras around her home.

Judge Michael Fanning also imposed a three-year restraining order on Read prohibiting him from contacting his victim and from entering a residential Carlisle road.

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