North Yorkshire
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | |
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Woman's pub joke about piglet kidnap backfired
A FARM worker challenged by a woman to "kidnap" a piglet for her stabbed a 22-day old animal and left it lying dead in a pool of blood on her doorstep, a court was told.
Harrogate magistrates heard how Graham Macmillan thought Helen Poole's plea to him in a village pub was for a pig for food, but she had jokingly wanted one as a pet.
He broke into a farrowing house, grabbed a squealing piglet and thrust a kitchen knife into it three times, with one of the strikes going to its heart.
Crown prosecutor Hilary Reece said Macmillan, 23, who works part-time for Andrew Hornshaw at Mount Pleasant Farm, Lower Dunsforth, near Boroughbridge, in return for accommodation in a caravan on the holding, met Ms Poole at The Angler in the village in September.
She told him she "fancied baby pigs" and about a week later found one dead outside her caravan home on a site behind the pub.
Macmillan pleaded guilty to burglary and theft of a £40 piglet, and also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Stuart Berry, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Ms Poole had told investigators she had not challenged Macmillan to get her a pig in any serious way but he appeared to have taken her literally.
He broke into the farm where there were 200 litters of piglets, took one and dealt it several blows with a knife. He was then seen carrying it over his shoulder to Ms Poole's caravan.
Mr Berry said vets found two puncture wounds, one to the heart, and a slash across the back of the piglet which suffered a massive blood loss. The animal would have been in acute pain.
In mitigation, Geoffrey Boothby said Macmillan was a member of a farming family in the area and had moved into a caravan on Mr Hornshaw's pig farm over a year ago, working for him from time to time so he could live rent free.
He was a single man with two convictions for drink-driving, and it was alcohol which was at the heart of his latest crimes, which occurred after he had drunk a bottle of whisky.
Mr Boothby said: "He had seen Helen Poole in the local pub. She said to him 'Kidnap me a pig'. She was joking but he did not think she was joking He thought she wanted it for food."
Mr Boothby said Macmillan had denied responsibility when he realised he was in serious trouble and might lose his home. He had since apologised to Mr Hornshaw and had "been forgiven".
Macmillan was made subject to a 12-month community order with six months' probation supervision, attendance on an alcohol treatment course and 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also banned from owning or keeping an animal for a year and told to pay £40 compensation for the piglet and £215 costs.
6:47am Monday 5th May 2008
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