A trainee solicitor at Lyons Davidson's Bristol office has been jailed for 18 weeks for leaving her pet dog to die of starvation and dehydration.
Katy Gammon kept the five year old Boxer, Roxy, shut in her kitchen because it wasn't toilet trained. After splitting up with her boyfriend, Gammon moved in with her mother across town, but left Roxy behind, locked in the room. And after dislocating her knee, Gammon stopped returning to feed the dog. Ten weeks later police were called after neighbours saw a swarm of flies in the house. The state of Roxy's body was so poor that RSPCA inspectors had to remove her remains with a shovel.
The court heard that Roxy had pulled open cupboards and drawers trying to find food and water, and would have died an agonising death over a period of several days. Gammon had left tins of dog food just the other side of the kitchen door.
Handing down his sentence, the chair of the magistrates bench said the case was "the most serious incident of animal cruelty that we have encountered in these courts". Gammon, who plead guilty, was said by her counsel to be "absolutely mortified on every level". She said her client may have "some psychiatric issues".
Gammon's training contract has been terminated. No one at Lyons Davidson was available to comment.
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Katy Gammon kept the five year old Boxer, Roxy, shut in her kitchen because it wasn't toilet trained. After splitting up with her boyfriend, Gammon moved in with her mother across town, but left Roxy behind, locked in the room. And after dislocating her knee, Gammon stopped returning to feed the dog. Ten weeks later police were called after neighbours saw a swarm of flies in the house. The state of Roxy's body was so poor that RSPCA inspectors had to remove her remains with a shovel.
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Gammon's injury has failed to attract much sympathy |
The court heard that Roxy had pulled open cupboards and drawers trying to find food and water, and would have died an agonising death over a period of several days. Gammon had left tins of dog food just the other side of the kitchen door.
Handing down his sentence, the chair of the magistrates bench said the case was "the most serious incident of animal cruelty that we have encountered in these courts". Gammon, who plead guilty, was said by her counsel to be "absolutely mortified on every level". She said her client may have "some psychiatric issues".
Gammon's training contract has been terminated. No one at Lyons Davidson was available to comment.
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Firstly, I didn't say LD should have to make a donation, I said it would be a nice touch.
Secondly, is terminating her TC enough? Yes, of course, I hope she won’t find work for some time.
However, a member of LD’s staff has committed a crime that, whether you think is excessive or not, has been featured on the front page of the local newspapers and resulted in an online petition receiving over 100k signatures.
Does this have a negative impact on LD’s brand? Probably not.
Are they receiving tweets from people about the story? Yes.
Are they receiving calls from journalists? I imagine so.
Are they staying silent on the issue? Looks like.
Would them making said small donation simultaneously acknowledge and put the sorry episode to bed, improve their brand and help a charity? I believe it would.
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Are LD responsible for everything all their employees do outside of work? No.
Did they do what they could when they found out about it? Yes, they fired her.
Should LD be punished for employees' actions outside of work, over which they had no control, and against which they took the most severe action they could when they found out? No.
Should Ms Gammon make a donation? Yes, probably, as she is to blame.
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https://www.rspca.org.uk/donate
http://www.mind.org.uk/
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The local Bristol rumourmill is reporting that LD has been receiving a hell of a lot of abuse from their own clients as a result of this.
Katy Gammon is responsible for her actions. While LD may have a questionable Training Contract process, whichever firm employees Katy Gammon in the future deserves even worse publicity.
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