Shropshire woman who BEHEADED two snakes and drowned a hamster is banned from keeping animals for FIVE YEARS
A woman who cut the heads off her two pet snakes with a pair of scissors had also drowned a hamster in a fish tank four days before the attack, a court heard.
Jennifer Jeane Lampe was spared a prison term when she appeared at Telford Magistrates Court yesterday on charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
The 28-year-old, of Shropshire Street, Market Drayton, said she drowned the hamster because it was noisy and "keeping her up at night".
Mr Roger Price, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Lampe told police she had done it because she feared her sister was about to throw her out of the home they shared in south Shropshire and did not think she could look after them.
The heads of the two snakes were in her pockets of her jogging bottoms and she was covered in blood when police arrived to arrest her, Mr Price told the court.
The prosecutor said: "The floor of the bedroom was covered in blood.
"The scissors had blood on them.
"The defendant repeatedly told police officers she loved her snakes.
"She told police she wanted them dead – but she didn't want them to suffer."
The court heard Lampe had also dumped and abandoned two tabby cats and given away a puppy to a stranger in the park because she did not want to look after them any more.
Lampe admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal at a previous court hearing and appeared yesterday to be sentenced.
The court heard she had been seeing doctors at the time of the offence because her sister believed she was suffering from schizophrenia and other mental health issues.
Magistrates sentenced her to four months in prison – but opted to suspend the jail term for a period of two years.
She was also banned from keeping animals for five years.
Mrs Sue Tyrrell, chairwoman of the bench, said: "This was a particularly unpleasant, not to say bizarre, incident.
"But you will not be going to prison straight away because of your circumstances and the need for them to be addressed."
Ms Sarah Cooper, for Lampe, admitted to magistrates it was probably one of the "nastiest cases" they would have come across.
But she said "loner" Lampe had a number of mental health problems and had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose since the first court hearing.
As part of her sentence, Lampe will be supervised for two years by probation officers. She was also ordered to pay £100 towards court costs.
