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| Dogs death Pc guilty of cruelty | Dogs death Pc guilty of cruelty |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A police dog handler who left two animals to die from heatstroke has been found guilty of animal cruelty. | A police dog handler who left two animals to die from heatstroke has been found guilty of animal cruelty. |
| Pc Mark Johnson, 39, left the German Shepherds in temperatures of 29.3C (84.7F) in June last year when parked at Nottinghamshire police headquarters. | Pc Mark Johnson, 39, left the German Shepherds in temperatures of 29.3C (84.7F) in June last year when parked at Nottinghamshire police headquarters. |
| Johnson told Nottingham Magistrates' Court he was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder when he forgot about the dogs. | Johnson told Nottingham Magistrates' Court he was suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder when he forgot about the dogs. |
| He was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,500. | |
| The RSPCA, which had prosecuted the case, welcomed the verdict and said that those responsible for animals must be held to account for their actions, no matter what their profession. | |
| Routine disrupted | |
| Johnson was not banned from looking after animals in the future. | |
| The court heard that dogs Jet, aged seven, and 18-month-old Jay-Jay, died possibly within 20 minutes from heatstroke which would have brought about multiple organ failure. | |
| Johnson, who has served with the force for nearly 18 years, told the court that the complaints, along with the stresses of the job, had left him seriously ill. | Johnson, who has served with the force for nearly 18 years, told the court that the complaints, along with the stresses of the job, had left him seriously ill. |
| The court was told on 30 June last year, Johnson drove his black Ford Mondeo estate to Nottinghamshire Police's HQ in Arnold, just north of Nottingham. | |
| He arrived just before 0700 BST and had planned to transfer the dogs to a police car but it was off the road as the air conditioning system was being fixed. | |
| Checks delayed | |
| He found another car but there were no mats in the back and when he went to find some he became distracted by a police briefing. | |
| Afterwards, he told his sergeant he wanted to discuss some medical issues with him later in the day but he needed time to do his paperwork. | |
| At about 1030 BST he planned to let his dogs out of the car, give them water and allow them to stretch their legs. But he became distracted again by a phone call about a missing person. | |
| At noon, he had a meeting with his sergeant about his problems and it was not until nearly 1430 BST that he finally went to check on his dogs, seven hours later. |