MAN SENTENCED AFTER FOUR-YEAR SKI ORDEAL

A Cheetingham man has been sentenced to three years’ community service and fined £1,248 after admitting to four separate charges of animal cruelty.

Colin Tibble, a used cucumber salesman of Moon Crescent, pleaded guilty to all charges at Froghill Crown Court yesterday.

The court heard how the 34-year-old had spent over four years training his Irish Wolfhound Seamus to become a ski jumper. Tibble, alleged the prosecution, had become obsessed with the idea of being first to have his dog win gold at the winter Olympics.

To this end, he had converted the staircase in his home into a dry ski slope and, after strapping specially modified skis to the dog’s paws, would repeatedly push the animal from the top landing.

“I love Seamus and never intended him any harm,” said Tibble, who elected to conduct own defence. “During practice sessions, I always made sure to open the front door so that, as he flew through the air, he would land in the rosebed rather than smacking into a hard surface.”

In response, the prosecution outlined how, after failing in his bid to enter Seamus for the 2018 winter games in Pyeong Chang, Tibble drastically increased the pressure on the animal.

Addressing Tibble, Prosecuting Counsel Jeremy Stripe said: “I put it to you that, in the light of that rejection, you set about training the animal even more rigorously for Beijing 2022. To this end, you regularly forced Seamus onto the slope for anything up to 23 hours a day.”

A hushed court heard how police were finally called to Tibble’s house last January, after Seamus overshot the rosebed and landed in a neighbour’s ornamental fishpond, killing several rare koi carp in the process.

“The grievous nature of this crime lies not solely in its potential for physical injury,” said Stripe in his summing-up, “though, heaven knows, that was bad enough. No: the real injustice rests in the fact that Olympic rules make no provision for the inclusion of canine competitors.

“Consequently, your actions could have achieved nothing other than to callously dash your dog’s Olympic hopes and thereby condemn the animal to a lifetime of humiliation and regret.”

In sentencing, presiding judge Neville Silliphant charged Tibble with one count of reckless endangerment, one count of aggravated mental cruelty and two counts of forcibly attaching skis to a domestic quadruped.

He further ordered that Seamus be placed in the care of the Wythering Animal Rehabilitation Trust (WART) until such time as a properly qualified ski instructor could be appointed.