A dealer took selfies with a woman’s dog before killing it after taking over her home to sell drugs.
Dylan Uttley texted the woman and asked if he could use her home in Peterhead to sell drugs – a practice known as “cuckooing.”
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard yesterday that she refused – but left the property to go and stay with a friend.
When she returned the next day, she discovered her home had been broken into – and spotted her beloved Lhasa Apso hanging from a door.
She smashed a window to get in and desperately tried to resuscitate the dog before realising it was dead.
The court heard neighbours heard her screams, and called the police.
Police searched a property on Seaton Drive in Aberdeen the following month, and came across Uttley.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Wright said: “Photographs of the accused and of the dead dog were recovered.
“An examination established these photographs had been taken at the locus, the first image was a selfie of the accused taken before hanging the dog.”
The 20-year-old, whose address was given in court papers as Polmont YOI, previously admitted killing the dog and returned to court yesterday for sentencing.
He also confessed to supplying cocaine and diamorphine in August and September last year.
Defence agent Iain Jane told the court that Uttley, who originally comes from Liverpool, said his client knew a custodial sentence was inevitable.
He said of the incident involving the dog: “He has indicated to me that it is an abysmal crime, it is downright despicable.”
Sheriff Jack Brown locked Uttley up for three years, and told him: “It is evident that you are not at the lowest end of the chain as far as this supply is concerned and you openly accept you employed others to sell drugs.”
He described the killing of the dog as a “singularly evil, callous and barbaric act” which Uttley “compounded by taking photographs of it.”
Last month, the Press and Journal highlighted the work being carried out by police in the north-east to crackdown on cuckooing.
Gangs from major English cities are targeting vulnerable people in the area, and force their way into their homes – either by intimidation or by targeting potential customers – and use it as a base for expanding their operations.
Officers are working with social workers to protect victims, but admitted last month that it was a major challenge as the dealers move around frequently – meaning they have a head start.
