Teen who kept throwing cat off balcony jailed

LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) A 18-year-old who was part of a teenage gang that repeatedly hurled a cat from a fifth floor balcony and videoed the abuse was jailed for four months and told he must not own a animal for five years.

Christopher Lees was the oldest of the four Birmingham youngsters who were caught yesterday after they sent video footage of incident to their friends, one of which turned them in.

Khalo the cat was filmed as he was flung four times from the 60-foot high balcony and was so badly injured, including suffering brain damage, that he had to be put down by a vet.

''The magistrates were as appalled as we were by this horrendous act of cruelty inflicted on a living creature,'' said the RSPCA's Rob Hartley.

''The fact that Lees filmed the cruelty is even more disturbing,'' he said in a statement.

The three other teenagers, who cannot be named because they are too young, will appear before Birmingham Youth Court on August 1 for sentencing. Two have admitted causing cruelty and the third has admitted aiding and abetting the offence.

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