A dog owner who battered his pet to death before hurling it 60ft off a block of flats in an attempt to cover up the attack has been jailed for 15 months.
Dean Edwards, 44, beat two-and-a-half-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier Diesel so badly his internal organs suffered "catastrophic injuries".
Edwards then picked up the dog’s corpse and callously lobbed it off the balcony of his 15th floor flat in Bloxwich, Walsall, West Midlands.
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Dean Edwards has been jailed for 15 months
The RSPCA and police were called after Diesel was found lying in a pool of blood on the ground on November 15 last year.
Edwards said the first he was aware of Diesel being on the ground was when he was alerted by a neighbour.
He told the neighbour he thought the dog had been sleeping on his balcony and must have rolled off the edge.
But during an inspection blood was found on the balcony and inside the flat.
Staffordshire Bull Terrier Diesel was battered to death then hurled from a tower block
Specialist vets said heavy bruising discovered on the dog was not consistent with a fall and that it was likely the animal was dead before being found on the ground.
Edwards was jailed for 15 months and banned from keeping dogs for life after he was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Sentencing him, district Judge Michael Morris said: “I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt you struck a fatal blow to Diesel and attempted to throw Diesel to the ground to cover your actions.”
During a two-day trial at Walsall Magistrates Court, JPs were told baseball and rounders bats were seized at Edwards’ flat after Diesel was killed.
Prosecuting Nick Sutton, said: "The prosecution's case is that this man killed the dog and threw it from the balcony.
"He attempted to cover up the act by fabricating a fall."
Diesel was thrown from the 15th floor of this block of flats