A police detention officer was today (Tues) cleared of stealing her next-door-neighbours cat after taking the pet with her when she moved home.
Dawn Jowett, 61, admitted taking the 14-year-old cat called Dora to her new address but told jurors she had been looking after the animal herself for 18 months and was acting for compassionate reasons.
Jowett, who worked in the cells for Nottinghamshire Police, claimed Dora had been neglected by her long-standing neighbour, Joanna Richards, and was already living with her.
Ms Richards denied giving Jowett permission to take Dora and said she had asked her neighbour to stop feeding their family pet because she was getting too large.
But a jury at Lincoln Crown Court took just three hours to find Jowett not guilty of theft by a unanimous verdict.
After the verdict Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told Jowett: ‘You can leave the dock.’
Jurors heard how Jowett transported Dora in a carrier when she moved out of her former home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, on 12 October 2023.
Jowett later told police in a voluntary interview that she took Dora to protect her welfare and said the cat had been living with her for the previous 18 months.
Dawn Jowett, 61, admitted taking her neighbour’s 14-year-old cat called Dora to her new address
Dora the cat was taken to a new home by Jowett, who claimed the feline had been neglected by her neighbour
A week before moving home Jowett said she spoke to her neighbour and told her that she was taking Dora with her.
The defence claimed Ms Richards swore in her reply, and told Jowett: ‘Do what the f**k you like with her.’
Jowett said she replied ‘fair enough,’ but Ms Richards, giving evidence, said the conversation did not happen.
‘I never said Dawn could have her,’ Miss Richards said
The court heard Ms Richards eventually tracked the cat down to Jowett’s new home and visited twice on 17 November 2023, demanding Dora’s return.
But Jowett refused the request and police decided that because of her vulnerable age, Dora, now 15, could remain at her property until criminal proceedings finished.
The defendant told jurors she had known Dora since she was a kitten but had noticed a deterioration in her condition in the three years before she moved.
‘She was constantly hungry, constantly coming to me miaowing, constantly covered in scabs,’ Jowett said.
Dora’s original owner Joanna Richards claimed she did not give Jowett permission to take her pet
Jowett said she had known Dora since she was a kitten but had noticed a deterioration in her condition
‘Out all the time, no matter what the weather was, a bit feral, very neglected.’
But addressing the jury in her closing speech Lowri Butterworth, prosecuting, said: ‘It is the Crown’s case Ms Richards loved and cared for Dora.’
Miss Butterworth said Jowett made just one report to the RSPCA and told jurors that even if Dora was a ‘scabby’ cat it was not her role to take the animal.
The prosecutor told jurors that Ms Richards, in her evidence, said she did not give Jowett permission to take Dora.
Ms Butterworth also reminded jurors of Jowett’s own words that ‘there is no dispute she is Joanna’s cat.’
But Lucia Harrington, in her defence speech, asked the jury to consider Jowett’s good character and argued she had spent 18 months ‘housing, feeding, worming and providing flea treatment’ for Dora.
‘These things cost money,’ Miss Harrington said, adding that Jowett had also been frustrated in her effort to report her concerns over Dora to the RSPCA.
Giving evidence Ms Richards told the court Dora was named after the cartoon explorer and described her as an ‘outdoors cat.’
Ms Richards told the court Dora was named after the cartoon explorer and described her as an ‘outdoors cat’
‘She was generally out most night times, but would come in when my daughter came back from school, about 3.30pm,’ Ms Richards explained.
Ms Richards confirmed that Dora was microchipped under her name and registered to a vets in Hucknall but had not attended the practice since 2018.
‘She had a home, she was fed twice a day,’ Ms Richards told the jury. ‘I bought flea and worming treatment for her, and kept an eye on her skin.’
After Dora went missing Ms Richards said the family posted on Facebook and drove around the area, and she eventually learnt that she was with her former neighbour.
Jurors heard Jowett had spent 23 years working as a detention officer for Nottinghamshire Police and had received a long service award from the Chief Constable.
She told the jury she began putting a bowel out to feed Dora and later the cat began staying indoors.
‘Technically I thought she was my cat, as far as I was concerned,’ Jowett said.
Jowett insisted she was ‘never’ asked to stop feeding Dora and said she paid for all the food.
The police worker said she ‘constantly’ spoke to Ms Richards about the state of the cat.
‘She just wasn’t interested,’ Jowett said.
Jowett, now of Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, denied a single charge of theft on 12 October 2023.
