A wealthy woman who poisoned her neighbour's Abyssinian cats with tuna laced with anti-freeze has been ordered to pay £1,500 in compensation to the distraught owner.

Katherine Hall, 57, put the deadly tins of tuna in her garden to stop Nush and Mr Baz urinating on her strawberries.

The court heard that the five-and-a-half year old cats died in agony a few days later.

When police searched Hall's garden they found remnants of the deadly meal, and a cat-scaring machine.
 
(Katherine Hall poisoned her neighbour's cats to stop them urinating in her garden)

Owner Andrew Boyd said it was a 'disgrace' that Hall did not receive a harsher punishment.

'I don't want to see anyone going to jail, but she should have been banned from having animals, and given community service at least,' he said.

Hall, of Airth, Stirlingshire, was found guilty after summary trial of causing unnecessary suffering to Nush and Mr Baz by feeding them tuna mixed with anti-freeze, and giving the cats a drug or substance knowing it to be poisonous or injurious.

Mr Baz had been touted as a future champion Abyssinian cat, with the father of both cats, each valued at £700, having been a supreme champion at 'best of show' events.

Mr Boyd had to foot a bill of £523 for a vet's unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of the two cats.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Mr Baz died on October 2 last year, while his sister Nush was put down four days later.

Mr Boyd told the court that the first he knew something was wrong was at 2.30 pm on October 1, 2008.

'Mr Baz came through the cat flap into the home and was sick in the utility room,' he said.

'He was then sick later on that day another couple of times and was yowling with stress. He was wobbly and kept falling over.  

Mr Baz died an agonising death when he ate tuna laced with anti-freeze

'He was taken to the local vets, where he was put down at 5am the next morning, and they were under the suspicion he'd been poisoned.' 

Mr Boyd said his wife, Wilma, later found Nush suffering from similar symptoms.

'Nush was in bed for most of the time after her brother died, and we assumed it was because she was heartbroken, but when she finally came out on October 4, she wasn't eating or drinking much,' he said.

'On October 6 she tried jumping down from the table. She was miaowing in pain and couldn't get back up. Then her legs went, and she was shivering.

'We took her to the vets in Stirling, but they quickly noticed how serious the situation was, and said she would have to be put to sleep.

'I was bawling my eyes out when we were told the news.' 

Alasdair Bruce, 45, a vet at Broadley's Veterinary Hospital in Stirliong, where the cats were treated, said it was clear they had been poisoned.

'Mr Baz's lungs had collapsed. He had no strength, was dehydrated and hypothermic, with a temperature considerably below normal. I had strong suspicions he'd been poisioned,' the vet said.

Sergeant Michael Matheson, 40, said Hall was evasive when asked about the tuna.

'At first I asked her about the tuna and she said she didn't know why it was there. She then said she couldn't really answer why it was there,' he said.

'We questioned her husband Henry Hall, before she admitted "It was me. I did it".' 

Hall told officers: 'We've spent a lot of money on the garden. I wanted to stop them leaving nasty smells and pooing. They did it continuously.' 

Hall, who pleaded not guilty, claimed in evidence that she had read a newspaper article that said 'the mixture would make them sick and it would then stop them coming into her garden'.

'I thought putting the tuna down would be like a bad meal in a restaurant - and they wouldn't come back after it.' 

The court heard that very little anti-freeze was needed to kill a cat, and the strong taste of the tuna would have masked any unpleasant taste or excessive sweetness that would normally put a cat off.

Defence lawyer Murray Aitken said Hall highly regretted her decision to put out the poison-laced tuna.

'She's had death threats because of it, and it's negatively affected her health, so it's definitely a decision that will live with her for the rest of her life,' he said.