4 days Ago By David Love
A Nairn man who allowed a dog to starve to death has been jailed for seven months after he failed to comply with a community-based disposal. Brian Farmer, 25, was sentenced in September last year after he admitted causing the dog – a bull terrier known as Duke – unnecessary suffering by failing to provide it with access to food or water. Inverness Sheriff Court heard told how a starving Duke had chewed anything he could find within the Church Street flat – including a sofa, its foam filling and tins of food – in a desperate search for sustenance.
Dead, emaciated dog found It was stated that Highland Council had forced entry to the property on January 27 after it was abandoned by Farmer. The condition of the vacated flat was such that industrial cleaners were called in. On February 3 the cleaners discovered the emaciated body of the dog and alerted the SSPCA.
The next day an SSPCA inspector went to the property, which was described as “in a terrible state” with a “strong foul-smelling odour”, and was “shocked to see the emaciated state of the body of the dog”. When its skeletal and decomposing remains were the subject of a post mortem, Duke weighed only 14kg, roughly half what an adult dog should. The offences took place over a four-month period between September 23 2021 and February 4 2022.
It was described by another sheriff Failed to do unpaid work At the time, Farmer’s defence solicitor David Patterson described his client’s actions “a horrific offence” that “led to a completely avoidable, unnecessary and miserable death” He claimed that Farmer had had a challenging life, had suffered from a lack of education and suffered from mental health issues. Farmer But this week the court was told that he had failed to cooperate with his community order, which was deemed a breach. Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald revoked the order and replaced it with the prison sentence of seven months, such was her disgust at the offence.
Sentencing him, the sheriff jailed Farmer, of Church Street, Nairn, for a total of seven months..
