Personal injury news

Sick teen blows up car accident dog

A sick teenager has admitted to a court that he blew up a dead dog with a firework while his friend recorded the sadistic attack on a mobile phone.

19-year-old Stephen Robinson pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to committing an act of an unlawful, abusive and disgusting nature, as well as to outraging public decency.

The court heard how Emmie, an 11-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, was killed in a car accident a few days before Bonfire Night in 2005. She had bolted from her owner's home after becoming frightened by the noise of fireworks, and had inadvertently run into the path of a vehicle. Suffering severe personal injuries, she was left at the side of the road to die.

Minutes later Robinson and several friends discovered the dog's body and placed a firework inside it. Laughing hysterically, they lit the fuse and retreated, videoing the depraved blast on a mobile phone.

Emmie's mangled corpse was discovered the next morning in a wheelie bin and, after an emotional appeal by her owners, a neighbour reported seeing the teenagers detonate the canine explosion.

A subsequent post-mortem revealed that Emmie was, in fact, killed in the car accident and so knew nothing about what followed. The police were called, Robinson was arrested and the mobile phone was confiscated.

Speaking to the press, the dog's emotional owner, pensioner Keith Barrington, said, "If that's what young kids get up to then God help this country."

The case was adjourned for pre-sentencing reports and Robinson is set to discover his punishment in April.