Judge censures force over officer with mental health problems at time of incident in which two dogs died of heatstroke in car
Police dog handlers pay tribute to the two dogs that died from hearstroke in a car at Nottinghamshire police headquarters
A police dog handler who accidentally left two German shepherds to die of heatstroke in the back of his car on one of the hottest days of last year was found guilty of animal cruelty today.
PC Mark Johnson of Nottinghamshire police was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,500 costs after what a district judge called "an extremely difficult case" which reflected poorly on the force's attitude to officers with mental health problems.
Nottingham magistrates court heard that the animals – Jay-Jay and Jet – died in "excruciating pain" after Johnson forgot he had not taken them out of his Ford Mondeo estate on 30 June. Outside temperatures that day reached 29.3C.
Jet, seven, and 18-month-old Jay-Jay died – possibly within 20 minutes – from heatstroke, which would have brought about multiple organ failure.
Johnson, 39, said he was severely depressed and was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder when he left the dogs in the car. He said that repeated investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission had made his life "hell on earth" and convinced him that they were "out to get him".
He added that his illness had caused him to forget that the animals were still in the car as he sat down to do paperwork at Nottinghamshire police's headquarters.
Johnson, who was commended in 2008 after arresting a gunman who Jet had bitten, said: "I treated the dogs as members of the family and they were loved as such."
Paul Taylor, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said that although the officer had been devoted to his dogs, they had died in terrible pain owing to his mistake. "His failure in this case is an aberration of his normal high standards," Taylor said. "However, his actions had catastrophic consequences for the two dogs in the car."
District judge Tim Devas described the dogs' deaths as "sad and regrettable", but criticised the police for failing to help an officer struggling with depression.
"I feel a police officer has been let down and this is for the benefit of the police: this is a dreadful error of judgment brought about by an illness way before it happened and PC Johnson should have been given more help … I cannot believe that in the 21st century, depression and men crying is so abhorrent to an institution that nothing can be done about it," he said.
"I have no doubt that had PC Johnson received the help he needed then he wouldn't be standing before me here today," said the judge, adding that he was satisfied that the officer had no intention of causing any harm to his animals.
He added: "PC Johnson, I hope you can rebuild your life and career at the end of this."
An assistant chief constable of the Nottinghamshire police, Peter Davies, said dog handlers must now take their animals directly to kennels on arrival at work and that a fob system was being piloted alerting handlers to temperature changes inside vehicles.
PC Mark Johnson of Nottinghamshire police was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £2,500 costs after what a district judge called "an extremely difficult case" which reflected poorly on the force's attitude to officers with mental health problems.
Nottingham magistrates court heard that the animals – Jay-Jay and Jet – died in "excruciating pain" after Johnson forgot he had not taken them out of his Ford Mondeo estate on 30 June. Outside temperatures that day reached 29.3C.
Jet, seven, and 18-month-old Jay-Jay died – possibly within 20 minutes – from heatstroke, which would have brought about multiple organ failure.
Johnson, 39, said he was severely depressed and was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder when he left the dogs in the car. He said that repeated investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission had made his life "hell on earth" and convinced him that they were "out to get him".
He added that his illness had caused him to forget that the animals were still in the car as he sat down to do paperwork at Nottinghamshire police's headquarters.
Johnson, who was commended in 2008 after arresting a gunman who Jet had bitten, said: "I treated the dogs as members of the family and they were loved as such."
Paul Taylor, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said that although the officer had been devoted to his dogs, they had died in terrible pain owing to his mistake. "His failure in this case is an aberration of his normal high standards," Taylor said. "However, his actions had catastrophic consequences for the two dogs in the car."
District judge Tim Devas described the dogs' deaths as "sad and regrettable", but criticised the police for failing to help an officer struggling with depression.
"I feel a police officer has been let down and this is for the benefit of the police: this is a dreadful error of judgment brought about by an illness way before it happened and PC Johnson should have been given more help … I cannot believe that in the 21st century, depression and men crying is so abhorrent to an institution that nothing can be done about it," he said.
"I have no doubt that had PC Johnson received the help he needed then he wouldn't be standing before me here today," said the judge, adding that he was satisfied that the officer had no intention of causing any harm to his animals.
He added: "PC Johnson, I hope you can rebuild your life and career at the end of this."
An assistant chief constable of the Nottinghamshire police, Peter Davies, said dog handlers must now take their animals directly to kennels on arrival at work and that a fob system was being piloted alerting handlers to temperature changes inside vehicles.
