A spiteful husband has been jailed for stabbing his wife’s cat to death after a row.
Brute Andrew Beese, 60, used a knife to kill five-year-old Koko before throwing the cat’s body over his garden fence.
Beese, who told investigators he attacked the pet because it scratched him, was jailed for 14 weeks by JPs at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court.
But prosecutor Nick Sutton said he attacked the animal because of a bust-up with his wife.
He said: “The position is that he simply killed this animal as a matter of spite. It is as simple as that.”
Mr Sutton said that a neighbour saw Beese attack the animal in front of his kitchen window.
He said: “He was clearly holding something as he stabbed the cat.”
The court heard how the neighbour described seeing the cat get away from Beese but he cornered it and picked it up again.
When police arrived at Beese’s house, he told officers: “Look what it did. It scratched me, so I killed it.”
Mr Sutton said: “In the first interview the defendant maintained that the animal attacked him and he claimed that he feared for his life and he simply strangled it.
But the court heard the animal had been stabbed and not strangled.
Beese, of Bisley Old Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire, showed no emotion as he was led away to begin his sentence.
Chairman of the bench Peter Langman told him: “We are concerned as to the risk you pose to others.”
Beese was also banned from keeping animals for 20 years.