A councilman in a rural UK village resigned from his post and is the subject of renewed police scrutiny after allegedly trying to blow up a neighbor’s cat twice in 2023.
Councillor James Garnor was reportedly trying to stop the cat from climbing into a bird feeder, and decided the best way to do it was to rig the feeder with explosives and lure the curious feline in, according to a report on UK broadcaster LBC’s website.
Garnor was apparently so amused by his handiwork that he distributed video of the incidents to his friends. The footage shows a cat named Suki leaping onto the bird feeder on April 9, 2023, and nibbling on some of the bird feed before the explosive detonated. An injured Suki took off immediately and ran home.
She “came home one day missing her whiskers on her face – they looked like they’d been dissolved – so I put a post in my local community page on Facebook… just to warn people in case there was something she’d rolled in that had dissolved them,” said Suki’s human, a woman named Nikki.
“But somebody contacted me to tell me it wasn’t what I thought it was, that somebody had actually blown my cat up – and that it was my neighbour and local councillor. It made me feel physically sick.”
After she received the video, Nikki filed a complaint with local police, who elected not to arrest Garnor. However, after a second video surfaced with a clearer view of Garnor’s alleged actions, police responded to the public outcry and said they were reviewing the case again.
Per LBC, which broke the story:
“The incident is one of at least two occasions that cats in Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, were allegedly targeted by Councillor James Garnor in 2023 using remote-detonated explosives.”
It’s not clear if the new video shows a second attempt, or a different angle on the first. Garnor “was dealt with using anti-social behavior legislation,” a type of civil admonishment usually associated with things like noise complaints, littering and damaging public property, not trying to kill an animal.
Garnor resigned from his post on Feb. 7, and the council distanced itself from him, saying its members “understand the concerns raised by the community and want to assure everyone that we take all matters of animal welfare seriously.”
That hasn’t mollified people living in the small community, who are wondering why police didn’t press charges the first time they were presented with evidence of the attempt on Suki’s life.
“You can clearly see the videos have been slowed down [and] edited. It’s very set-up: the animal has been enticed on the bird table with food whilst said individual was sitting there with the detonator waiting for [the cat] to appear,” a neighbor told LBC. “He is a member of our parish council, so it makes you worry what decisions are being made there by the individual… he has offered no apology [and] shown no remorse.”
In the meantime, Suki has been permanently impacted by the incidents. The tabby was affectionate and friendly, Nikki said, wrapping her little body “like a scarf around your neck.”
“Now she very rarely comes near you, and if she does, she’s got her claws out – she hisses, she growls,” Nikki added. “She’s not the loving cat she used to be – and I don’t blame her… the change in her happened pretty much overnight.”
Pain In The Bud 
ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME!?? Will this pos get punished!?
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Well, like I wrote, he hasn’t even been charged yet, let alone convicted. It appears the police are not following the law, because anyone who does intentional harm to animals is supposed to be charged criminally in the UK. I don’t buy the “lack of evidence” claim when they have video of the incident.
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So that would be a no as in any future punishment.
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Not necessarily, it just means he has due process. Hopefully police will charge him now that there is more video.
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That poor cat … And her poor person too. I have no words. This hurts the heart.
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Agreed. I really don’t get how some people can do this sort of thing to animals or other people.
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To Gilda, I mean it’s good the kitties recovered their trust of people, but being thrown, what a horrible thing.
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To Leah. With time Suki will overcome her trauma. When i did cat rescue many cats were taken from abusive homes. My friend Caroline adopted two siblings that were thrown against the wall. They were very wary and hid most of the time. After a year she told me they began sleeping with her on the bed and eventually she was able to pick them up.
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That’s good to know, Gilda, thanks!
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Anyone who would throw cats against a wall deserves a serious charge and a lifetime ban from ever owning or caring for animals.
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This man is a member of the UK labour party ( our government). The Labour party has multiple members convicted as pedophiles ( more than the other major partys combined), and its the only UK party along with the BNP (our version of the Nazis) to ever be investigated for anti-semitism. There are currently court cases against labour politicians for extreme violence and death threats against members of the public. And in the last few days the labour Party has had to expel very senior members of parliament for whats apping death wishes against UK pensioners ( plus racist and sexist messages of the most vile order). In summary this is typical behaviour of the Labour party. Whilst I actually couldnt care less about this individual I do care with all my heart about the cat and her family. I absolutely guarantee that no action will be taken by the labour party apart from the usual cut and paste PR release of apology etc etc (you can almost write it yourself..) I literally wept when I saw this
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Yeah I saw stories about that genius minister who said he wishes the constituent dies for not voting for him. Apparently he’s the fourth or fifth minister under Starmer to resign over nonsense like that.
Although my favorite moment is when Starmer demanded “the return of the sausages” from Hamas.
There’s something fundamentally wrong when a guy who uses explosives to try to kill cats is given the same reprimand as someone who left their garbage bin out overnight. UK police are more zealous in going after people who troll online than actual crimes.
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You are absolutely right on all fronts
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Did you ever see the clip of Starmer calling for “the return of the sausages”? Not only is it particularly hilarious to my American ears to hear him say that with a cut glass RP accent, but the MPs all cheer like “Hell yeah! Breakfast! Don’t forget to mention the bacon too, Starmer!”
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I did see it, a You Tube favourite! – with all his drones cheering hurrah along with him, even Bella would vote for the clown with that sort of manifesto item!!!
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Here i thought was that U.K. was a nation that cared about cats. Don’t get me wrong. We are no better!! I can recall only one incident where cat was set on fire and pos served all 7 years. That is rare.
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Regarding the pos who threw cats against the wall? Over 15 years ago but i think the abused wife gave our rescue group the cats. The head of group would call law enforcement if any situation called for it. Another case i recall was kitten that had to be euthanized because wife and animal abuser claimed kitten fell off table. He was thrown. Not one of us saw any red flags. All i remember wife having ” back issues”. She was being abused.
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Poor Suki. There’s no excuse for that. It seems he tried to lure her in so he could harm her. No wonder she’s changed.
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Plain & simple the guy’s a POS. I can’t bear to think about how anyone could even think about doing harm to an animal! It always catches me off guard. The most innocent beautiful creatures on earth are always the one’s who are targeted. I don’t & never will understand.
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