A singing parrot was tortured and killed by two Carlisle friends who doused the bird in cleaning products, put it a tumble drier and broke its neck.
Nicola Bradley, 35, and Tracy Dixon, 47, have heard they now face prison sentences after being convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an African grey parrot called Sparky. She had been the pride and joy of former Army man Paul Crooks, who was gifted the African grey bird by his former partner after they split.
Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Crooks’ feathered friend used to belt out the Regimental March, National Anthem and theme tunes from Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
“She was a bit of a hit with all my army colleagues,” he told magistrates of online calls with contacts across the globe. “When we had a chat she would start singing.”
On July 30 last year, Mr Crooks gave friends Bradley and Dixon a lift back to his city home when they failed to hail a taxi after a boozy night out. “They were drunk,” said Mr Crooks. “Never in your wildest nightmares would you expect to happen what was going to happen.”
As the women continued drinking and with Mr Crooks out of the room, the parrot was sprayed with shaving foam and Mr Muscle. She was also smeared with Brasso, turps, furniture polish and gloss paint. Worse was to come. She was hit with a tea towel, attempts were made to feed her to Mr Crooks’s dog and the bird was then sent through a short tumble drier cycle.
Mr Crooks told the court he returned to find feathers all over the floor and the women in the process of leaving. He described his horror at finding Sparky unresponsive. “Head hanging out the cage, body in,” he recalled. “She was just unrecognisable; had gone from grey to a wet black mess.”
The women initially denied any knowledge but later told Mr Crooks what had been done to Sparky. “At that point I got very upset and started crying. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he said.
But in police interview and then in court, Bradley, of Welsh Road, and Dixon, of Warnell Drive, both Carlisle, sought to blame each other for the sick acts.
Bradley told magistrates: “Tracy Dixon killed the parrot.”
Dixon, meanwhile, claimed she never touched the bird, saying Bradley was solely responsible and that she had seen her break the bird’s neck after forcing it into a tumble drier. “I can never forget the sound,” said Dixon, who insisted: “I told her not to do it.”
Magistrates found both women guilty and sent the case to Carlisle Crown Court for sentencing on August 22. Pre-sentence reports were ordered and the women were warned that all options, including prison terms, would be considered. In the meantime both were bailed.
Lead magistrate Jennifer Wilkinson said there had been a sustained attack on the bird, concluding: “We are satisfied behind reasonable doubt that both defendants have acted together and are jointly responsible for causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, namely Sparky the parrot.”
