A POST mortem carried out at the Axiom veterinary laboratory in Teignmouth has helped jail a man who killed his girlfriend's cat.

Shane Germon, of Bodmin, Cornwall, was sentenced to three months by magistrates in Liskeard after pleading guilty to beating the animal to death in August.

He was also banned from keeping any animal for life.

Germon killed the cat after an argument with his girlfriend at their Bodmin home, later telling magistrates that the three-year-old tabby was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' when he had lost his temper.

However, despite Germon's claims that the pet had died instantly, a report by Axiom vet Peter Webb, which was read out in Bodmin court in December, proved otherwise .

'This animal was killed by repeated trauma to the head and neck compatible with receiving several blows (or stamping) to the head,' wrote Dr Webb. 'Death was not instant.'0