Convicted cat abuser challenges jail term

A west London man jailed over his treatment of two cats that were subsequently euthanised has been bailed after lodging an appeal against his sentence. 

Vets who assessed the animals concluded they had been physically abused, including the infliction of a blunt force trauma, before their deaths.

Charlie Damian Brown, 22, of Ebury Bridge Road, Chelsea, was sentenced to a total of eight months in prison, and barred from keeping animals for seven years, by Westminster magistrates earlier this month.

Released on bail

He had previously been found guilty on four counts of causing unnecessary suffering – two through the infliction of non-accidental injury and two of failing to seek appropriate veterinary care.

But he was released on bail, with curfew conditions, at Southwark Crown Court this week, pending an appeal hearing scheduled for 23 May.

Meanwhile, his partner, 22-year-old Soumeya Nait-Yahia, was given a 12-month community order, including 180 hours’ unpaid work, after she was found guilty on two charges of causing unnecessary suffering relating to failing to seek veterinary care.

Multiple injuries

The cats, named Billy and Lelu, were both reported to have fallen from windows in a block of flats before their deaths in September 2022 and June 2023 respectively.

However, both animals were found to have sustained multiple injuries that were not consistent with falls and more likely to have been caused by physical abuse.

RSPCA inspector Miranda Albison, who investigated the case, said: “Brown deliberately abused these two cats on multiple occasions and he and his partner failed to seek vet treatment for them.

“This appalling behaviour ended in the sad deaths of both felines who had suffered multiple injuries.”