Emma Parker Lincolnshire, UK mom jailed one year for killing and eating daughter’s pet hamster. Woman was in throes of drug addiction. Incident was filmed and shared on social media.
A Lincolnshire woman in the throes of drug addiction has been jailed for 12 months after filming herself cutting up and eating her pet hamster, ‘Mr Nibbles’, according to reports.
A UK judge handed down the jail term this week to Emma Parker, 39, describing the act as ‘abhorrent.’
Footage of the attack carried out by Parker of Belvoir Gardens in Great Gonerby, was shared online, prompting a warning from shocked RSPCA inspectors.
Footage posted to Facebook in May 2022 shows Parker killing her daughter’s pet, named Mr. Nibbles, as laughter is heard in the background.
Two videos filmed at Parker’s home were sent to the RSPCA by a concerned member of the public, Lincoln Crown Court heard.
Spectator is heard laughing in video
‘The two videos seen on social media showed the defendant with a hamster in a hamster ball,’ prosecutor Gordon Holt told the court in Lincolnshire, England, according to the SUN.
‘The defendant is holding the ball with a knife in the other hand,’ he continued. ‘She takes the knife and plunges it through the opening of the ball moving the knife from side to side.’
‘A spectator is heard laughing and says, ‘You are a sick bastard you are,’’ Holt claimed.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the mother was under the influence of substances at the time of the incident.
The mom admitted killing and eating the pet hamster, pleading guilty to one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal. Parker reportedly told police she was helping the hamster to die after it had been bitten by one of her dogs.
Judge James House admonished Parker for cutting the hamster in half while it was still alive before ‘eating the two halves of the dissected hamster.’
He said it was ‘abhorrent’ that violence had been inflicted on a defenseless animal.
Court heard how mom was under influence of drug dealer
Brace yourselves.
According to the Mirror, a veterinarian testified she watched the footage (author decided against sharing video) and had not heard a hamster squeal like Mr. Nibbles did during her 27-year career.
Once the clips were uploaded to social media, one disturbed viewer reported the ‘disturbing incident’ to the animal welfare charity RSPCA, prompting an investigation.
The court was told Parker had been under the influence of a drug dealer. It remained unclear if the woman was being coerced.
Parker refused to reveal the identities of the people who filmed the footage, explaining: ‘They are not nice people.’
But there’s more.
Long history of drug addiction
Since her arrest, Parker says her home has been vandalized with dog feces smeared in her mailbox. The woman also complained of sustaining burns to her body in a recent car crash.
But the judge didn’t take pity on Parker, delivering the 12-month prison sentence and forbidding her from owning a pet for 15 years.
After the verdict, RSPCA inspector Andy Bostock told the BBC: ‘We share the public’s revulsion at this horrific incident, and we’d like to thank the police for their support in this investigation.’
Adding: ‘It has been upsetting and disturbing for everyone who has been involved in this case.’
The court heard Parker had been made the subject of community orders in both 2021 and 2022 for offences of shoplifting, and had a long history of addiction to Class A drugs.
