Man mutilates horse by stabbing it 20 times but is only charged with ‘criminal damage’

Judge says charges do not ‘reflect the wickedness’ of teenager’s actions

Reece Reed, 19, was jailed for eight months om 18 November, 2019 after stabbing a prize-winning show horse 20 times and cutting off the wings of three chickens at a farm in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. (Northamptonshire Police)

A teenager who mutilated a prize-winning horse by stabbing it 20 times has only been jailed for two months because the attack was classed as “criminal damage”.

Reece Reed, 19, also cut off the wings of three chickens after breaking into a farm in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, in April last year, the Northampton Chronicle & Echo reports.

However a judge at Northampton Crown Court was unable to hand him a prison sentence longer than two months for the attacks because they were charged as criminal damage rather than a more serious offence such as animal cruelty.

Reed was, however, jailed for a further six months for carrying the six-inch kitchen knife he used to carry out the mutilations.

On the morning of the incident, the owner of the farm, alerted by a burglar alarm, discovered one of the windows of a summer house had been forced open and another smashed, according to the Chronicle & Echo.

He looked through one of the windows where he spotted a man, Reed, holding a knife while naked from the waist down inside a chicken coop.

The farmer managed to scare off the defendant but later discovered his daughter’s prize-winning miniature show horse was bleeding heavily having been stabbed 20 times in its back legs and rear.

The horse, named Sol, was once worth thousands of pounds but is now unable to compete because of its injuries, the court was told.

Three chickens also had to be put down after having their wings cut off by Reed, who later pleaded guilty to the offences.

Reed’s defence barrister said the teenager was “remorseful” and had expressed his “sympathy” for the family.

He will serve his eight-month prison sentence in a young offenders’ institute.

However His Honour Judge Michael Fowler told the defendant the charges were an “error” in his view and that the sentence did not “reflect the wickedness of [his] behaviour”, according to the Chronicle & Echo.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service told The Independent: “This was a vicious attack and we always want to ensure our charging decisions reflect the seriousness of the offence.

“We note the judge’s comments and are looking into what happened in this case.”