A MUCH-LOVED cat died a ‘painful and extremely distressing’ death when it was snared in a rat trap.

Blue the cat would have taken at least several minutes to die after being strangled by the spring trap which had been laid by Francis Brian Boyce Dunn, Weymouth Magistrates Court heard.

Dunn, aged 75, of Goldcroft Avenue, Weymouth, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by the improper use of a Fenn spring trap.

The court heard Dunn should have put the trap in a box or artificial tunnel so it was only big enough for rats to access it.

As it was, a cat owned by Dunn’s neighbour Mike Maber was caught after being lured by the bread and corned beef bait.

Dunn was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £300 costs.

The RSPCA, which brought the case, said it should serve as a warning that people with a pest problem should call in the professionals.

Matthew Knight, prosecuting, said Dunn had been asked to assist a neighbour, Hilary Star, who had a rat problem.

Dunn laid a commercially available trap he had in his shed. While the law permits use of such traps for the purpose of killing certain animals including rats, regulations state they must be set in ‘natural or artificial tunnels’, Mr Knight said.

Vet James Thorpe, of Fielding and Cumber, who examined Blue, said that death was not instantaneous and it would have taken ‘several minutes if not longer’ for the cat to die.

The death was ‘painful and extremely distressing’, he said.

Mr Knight said any reasonable person would have complied with the regulations surrounding the trap and that the death of Blue had left Mr Maber ‘extremely distressed’.

Kenny Sharpe, mitigating, said retired bricklayer Dunn had surrounded the trap with bricks which he thought would provide sufficient cover.

Mr Sharpe added: “Maybe he should’ve done more, but at the time he thought he had done enough.

“He’s horrified by what has happened. He didn’t want to cause any distress to any animal. Mr Dunn was merely trying to help out his neighbour. As a result of this his neighbours don’t speak to him.”

Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Ken Snook said the trap in question is designed to break the back or spine of a rat. In this case it would have strangled the cat, meaning death was not instant.

Mr Maber said he had owned the cat, a pedigree British Blue, for seven years.

He said: “I’m still heartbroken. I live on my own and Blue had been my companion.

“I am being treated for heart problems and depression and am due to have a cancer operation. Blue’s death increased my depression.”

Mr Maber, 68, who used to head Dorset Police’s press and media department, added: “I think Mr Dunn got off lightly.”