A DRUNKEN man laughed after killing his daughter’s kitten by forcefully punching and strangling it, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Three-month-old Pablo was found dead in a carrier bag in Daniel Pickard’s bedroom after he said: “I couldn’t stop punching it, it’s been p***ing me off the past week.”

The female cat had blood round her nose and mouth and multiple fractures, including to her skull and spinal cord.

Pickard, 42, of Heather Grove, Keighley, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal by punching the kitten repeatedly and killing it.

He was also found guilty of criminal damage to the kitten by destroying her, assaulting a police officer, possession of cannabis and breach of bail.

Prosecutor Lydia Carroll told the court that a warrant was issued by magistrates after the cat-killing charges were proved at a trial in Pickard’s absence. He was then committed to the crown court for sentence on Monday.

Miss Carroll said Pickard’s daughter had moved into his flat with him about three weeks before the offences took place on December 3 last year.

She had homed Pablo from a friend and the kitten moved into the address with her.

When she told her father she was struggling to cope with the young cat, he offered to kill it, the court was told.

“Why don’t I just kill it? I’ll take it round the back where the bins are and sort it out,” he suggested.

She had no idea he meant what he said, the court was told.

On the day Pablo’s body was discovered, he was ringing his daughter after a night out.

He said “the cat’s gone. I’ve killed it, it’s dead” and he kept laughing, Miss Carroll said.

His daughters called the police and he took up a fighting stance when they arrived.

He was then taken to the ground and arrested.

When he got to the police station, he disclosed that he had a bag of cannabis in his pocket.

Judge Kirstie Watson said Pickard must have used very significant force to kill Pablo.

The impact on his daughters had been great and neither wanted to see him again.

But it was a single act of animal cruelty and he had stayed out of trouble since.

Pickard was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 30 rehabilitation activity days, 150 hours' unpaid work and an alcohol treatment requirement.