Man jailed for killing girlfriend cat in the middle of the night

 
 Lawrence Santos, 24, tried to drown the cat Mimi on August 13 last year – but when she fought back and scratched him he beat her to death.

He woke up his then-girlfriend Rebecca Springer, 25, in her home in Maida Vale, London, telling her that Mimi was ‘not responding’ after he had attempted to give her a midnight bath.

But when Ms Springer saw the cat, whom she had adopted just two months earlier, she could see she was bleeding from a severe head wound.

A veterinary pathologist later found ‘signs the cat had suffered numerous serious injuries’ as well as 

‘signs of the cat having been submerged in water’, Southwark Crown Court heard.

‘There were signs of injury to the defendant consistent with the cat having fought back, because he had injuries to his hands showing that he had been scratched by it quite severely,’ prosecutor Anthony Heaton-Armstrong said.

 Santos then launched a violent attack on Ms Springer, pinning her down onto the bed and attacking her before she fled into the street in her dressing gown.

He chased after her and attempted to drag her back inside by her robe’s cord, causing further cuts to Ms Springer’s knees and feet.

Neighbours who saw the incident called the police, and Ms Springer was rushed to St Thomas’ Hospital’s A&E department for treatment to various cuts and bruises to her head, neck, face, arms, legs and feet, as well as a ruptured ear drum.