A man whose two dogs were shot dead by police in front of him has been given a suspended sentence for owning dangerously out of control animals.
Viral footage circulated on social media of Metropolitan police officers killing Louie Turnbull’s canines beside an east London canal in May this year.
The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to owning two dangerously out of control dogs at Snaresbrook crown court on Friday.
He was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
At the time of the incident on Commercial Road in Poplar, Turnbull was under a 20-year ban from owning dogs.
The court order was instated in November 2019 after a similar incident for which he also received a suspended sentence.
Turnbull broke down in tears as the court heard he had PTSD after seeing his pets, that were “like family”, shot dead in front of him.
Jessica Clarke, prosecuting, said Turnbull’s pets attacked Denisa Shyti’s dog as she walked along the street.
She said: “On May 7 this year, Ms Shyti was walking down the road with her dog which was on its lead.
“Mr Turnbull was sitting on a pavement while his two dogs which were not on lead. As she approached, his dogs moved towards her dog and started attacking him.
“Ms Shyti tried to stop the attack by getting involved, she put herself to the ground and effectively there was a scuffle on the ground, and that was between Mr Turnbull’s two dogs and Ms Shyti and her dog.
“It’s fair to say that Mr Turnbull did try to come to her assistance and separate the scuffle as well.”
Clarke said officers arrived at the scene and Turnbull walked away and smashed a glass bottle on the floor.
She added: “I’m not suggesting that the dogs would have been aggressive to people rather than the animals.”
District judge Oscar Del Fabbro acknowledged that the defendant, who had recently been in hospital with sepsis, was facing “hardship” at the time.
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Handing out his verdict, the judge said: “He might treat [his dogs], as you [the defence] say, like children or his family.
“But keeping dogs and animals is much more complicated because it impacts other members of society.
“Mr Turnbull, whatever happened on that day, it came about as a result of your failings – you should not have had those dogs in the first place.”
Turnbull was originally also charged with owning two dangerous dogs that caused injury, but that was dismissed after Shyti explained she was hurt while trying to save her own dog, rather than the defendant’s dogs attacking her.
As part of his sentence on Friday, Turnbull was also banned from owning and controlling dogs for four years, which will run concurrently with his existing 20-year ban.
He is due to be sentenced for another offence at Willesden magistrates court in February.
An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation is reviewing the officers’ actions.
Footage posted on social media showed officers pursuing Turnbull alongside the canal as he held two dogs on a short lead. The situation appeared to escalate as the officers Tasered the man and then shot and killed the animals.
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