Prisoner sent home to be with cat Posted on 10/15/2007
A prisoner was sent home to his cat after a judge heard that his pet was his main worry while he was behind bars.
A woman neighbor had been feeding Tony Smith's cat for the last three weeks when he was on remand awaiting sentence.
Smith was convicted last month of attacking the concierge at his tower block of flats in Middlesbrough and he found himself locked up for the first time, Teesside Crown Court was told.
John Gillette, defending, said: "His first thought was for his cat which was at home, and he was very concerned.
"He thought that a friend might be able to deal with the cat, but she went further than that. She said that she would like to write something on his behalf.
The letter is not at all inconsistent with what came out at his trial. There had been a buildup between these two men."
Mr Gillette added that Smith and the concierge Anthony Rea came to blows, and Smith admitted making a threat of violence and that somebody would lose his job.
Smith, a religious man, decided in prison that it would have been better if he had admitted what he had done rather than go through a trial.
He decided to go on a hunger-strike, but he was talked out of it by a concerned prison officer.
Passing sentence the Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Peter Fox QC told Smith that he was not going to send him to prison for the offenses for a number of reasons, including the fact that he had spent time as a remand prisoner.
The judge added: "This whole incident could have been avoided, and I think unwisely you lost your temper when you should have walked away. I believe that you can put this whole episode behind you. I hope that you and your cat and others can live in peace in the tower block, but you must know that if there is anything again like this you will be in jeopardy of serving the sentence I have suspended."
Smith, of Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for two years with a Think First programme after he was convicted of actual bodily harm assault on September 27 last year, and witness intimidation.