A teenager was filmed on a family's CCTV snatching their three-month-old Cocker Spaniel puppy.
Shannagh Cookson, 19, was caught on camera as she climbed the fence into her neighbour's garden with a portable kennel and scooped up puppy Penny.
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James Daniel, who owned the dog, said he first realised what had happened when he returned home from a trip to the supermarket and saw that the dog, which he had bought for his eight-year-old daughter, had gone.
A second Cocker Spaniel, Molly, was there when the theft took place but wasn't stolen. Mr Daniel found her running around the garden when he returned.
Cookson, a student from Manchester, told police she took the dog as she believed it was being 'ill-treated' by the family. She admitted she had given it away to a friend but refused to say who the friend was.
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Appearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court, Cookson admitted theft and was ordered to pay £600 - the same amount the pup cost - in compensation. She still refused to say where the puppy had gone.
She was also ordered to complete a 12-month community order and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as well as to pay £85 court costs.
Speaking after the court case, Mr Daniel said: ''This incident has caused me and my children a lot of distress and now the lie that Shannagh is spreading about the dog being ill-treated is simply adding insult to injury.
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''I spent a lot of money on Penny that I had worked hard for. I bought her for my daughter and I'm so angry that a person who I know just took something that isn't hers.
"I looked at the footage and saw the woman jump over my fence and pick up the kennel with Penny inside.''
''It's just so heartless, shameless and cruel how she brazenly jumped over my garden fence and stole my daughter's puppy dog.
"The most troubling and annoying thing is that, this shameless rogue has stubbornly refused to tell police where she kept the dog or who she sold it to.
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''Molly is Penny's bosom friend and partner and I'm sure she's not recovered from the shock of watching Penny being snatched.''
The court was told Cookson entered the Daniels' garden at around 11.30am on 30 September.
Martha Dowd prosecuting said: "In his back garden he left his two small cocker-spaniels Molly and Penny, one was free to walk around and one was locked in a carrier cage.
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"Mr Daniels was gone for an hour and when he came back he saw Molly running around but couldn't see the carrier cage with Penny inside it as it had gone.
"He went out onto his street and asked some of his neighbours however no one had seen her, he searched the local area but could not find her.
"He has CCTV cameras but at this time there was a power cut and he couldn't view the footage. However later on he did view the footage and could see a young woman going over his back fence and taking the dog.
"He recognised her and he has known her since 2008 when he moved in, he was neighbours with her and her mother and her father who they still live at the same address.
"On October 2 he attended the address her mother answered the door and he showed the footage on his phone, her mother said: 'that is my daughter I'm sorry about this'.
"He bought Penny in August 2019 and she's only three months old. Shannagh has fully admitted to taking the dog and said she heard it crying, she was asked where the dog was she says she can't get the dog back and refused to say where it was.
"When asked how she would feel she said she would still take the dog as she said it was being treated badly."
In mitigation defence lawyer Stephen Connor told the court: "In interview she accepted she had taken this dog and indeed she attended the interview on a voluntary basis. Throughout the course of her interview she raised real concerns about the health of the dog that she took and the health of other puppies that she says were in the back garden.
"She has been open with me because she was that alarmed about the health of those dogs - the CCTV actually shows her on her phone trying to get through to the RSPCA but was being kept waiting.
''In hindsight she accepts she took a foolish decision and she regrets that. The dog was given to a friend the defendant is adamant that she hasn't received any financial gain - you are dealing with a 19-year-old lady who had never even troubled the courts.''
Featured Image Credit: Cavendish Press
Topics: uk news, Animals, Dogs