An undertaker who drowned his wife’s miniature Yorkshire Terrier nonchalantly rolled a cigarette and told her, ‘dog bites, dog dies,’ after the heinous killing. Graham Richardson, 63, took little Wilma into the garden under cover of darkness and held her underwater in a pond after she nipped his nose when startled.
Prosecutor Rachel Glover said: ‘The defendant leaned in to kiss the dog, who nipped his nose due to being startled and he got a small cut to his nose. He became upset and said “She’s bit my f nose, she will have to go.”’
At some point during the night, after already having been drinking, Richardson woke up, got another bottle of wine, and started drinking it in bed at his home in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
His wife later woke up and could not find Wilma – eventually discovering the three-year-old pup’s soaking wet body in a plastic bag outside, at which point she began crying hysterically.
The court heard that as she argued with Richardson about what he had done, he simply repeated: ‘The dog bites, the dog dies,’ while rolling a cigarette. She contacted the police, and officers arrived at 3.45 am. Judge Edward Bindloss sentenced him to six months, suspended for two years, with a mental health treatment requirement. He was also banned from owning or keeping a dog for five years.