UK teen jailed for torturing two kittens to death

The teenager had also wanted to kill a human and researched how to "get away with murder", according to the prosecutor.

Two kittens were found cut open with ropes attached to them in a park in northwest London in May.

Both kittens had pieces of flesh and fur apparently burned off them. Police also found knives, blowtorches and scissors at the scene.

The teenager, along with a 17-year-old girl, both pleaded guilty to possessing a knife and causing unnecessary suffering to the animals. Neither can be named for legal reasons.

The girl is also due to be sentenced at London's Highbury court.

District judge Hina Rai said the killings were "without doubt the most awful offences against animals I have seen in this court".

The boy's actions were "extensively planned" and "clearly premeditated", said the judge, sentencing him to 12 months in a detention centre.

"I really wanted to murder someone. Every day I was researching how to get away with murder," read notes found on the boy's phone. "I have killed cats to reduce my urges."

His actions "showed a degree of planning" in "finding the animals, taking them to a public place and killing them in such a sadistic manner", prosecutor Valerie Benjamin told the court.

The teen told police he suffered from "depression, anxiety, hallucinations and self-harm", the prosecutor added.

According to the BBC, UK police are investigating possible links to a wider international network of online users who share and film footage of cats being tortured or killed.

The British charity RSPCA recorded 1,726 reports of intentional harm to cats in 2022, which is around five cats a day.