A NEWPORT man who laid bowls of chicken laced with anti-freeze under his car to deter cats, was fined £250 after pleading guilty to an offence under the Protection of Animals Act.

Paul Deakin, 43, of Waltwood Park Drive, Llanmartin, Newport, was cleared by Caerphilly magistrates of causing unnecessary suffering to a neighbour’s cat, which was found suffering symptoms of ethylene-glycol poisoning.

The substance is found in many household products, including antifreeze.

But no-one saw the cat, called Lisky, eating from under the car, and it could not be proved that the laced meat caused his illness.

The court was told Lisky was found collapsed and in pain on Waltwood Park Drive on April 4, 100 metres from Mr Deakin’s home, and taken to a vet. He had to be put down.

Geraint Richards, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Lisky’s owner Peter Squibbs saw a tray of meat under a car on Mr Deakin’s drive in late March and, a few days after Lisky died, spotted two bowls of what appeared to be chicken in a blue liquid, again under the car.

The RSPCA was called and Mr Deakin said he put the chicken there.

He denied deliberately putting antifreeze in, though he admitted it later.

He said his neighbour’s cats were a nuisance, and he had once found cat mess on his doorstep.

In court he said he put the chicken down as a deterrent, did not know of harmful properties in the antifreeze, and thought its colour would deter cats.

Caroline Marlow, the vet to whom Lisky was taken, said her practice saw three or four cases of ethyleneglycol poisoning annually, and there was a “cluster” in Llanmartin. Some cases predated Mr Deakin moving there.

Andrew Twomlow, defending, said that on such a large housing estate, with lots of cars, there were other potential sources of ethylene-glycol or antifreeze.

Mr Deakin was cleared of two charges of causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. He was ordered to pay £300 costs and a £15 victim surcharge relating to putting down poison.