Tasered man whose dogs were shot dead given suspended sentence

A man whose two dogs were shot dead as he was Tasered by police has been given a suspended sentence.

A video showed Metropolitan Police officers killing Louie Turnbull's dogs by an east London canal in May.

It happened after a woman told police she and her dog were attacked by a dog in Poplar, east London, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Turnbull, 46, pleaded guilty to owning two dangerously out of control dogs.

He was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.

At the time of the incident on Commercial Road in Poplar, on 7 May, Turnbull was already banned from owning dogs for 20 years.

The court order was made in November 2019, following a similar incident for which he also received a suspended sentence.

Footage on social media showed a man holding two dogs at Limehouse Cut before he was Tasered and the dogs shot

During this year's incident, the woman suffered leg injuries but did not require hospital treatment.

Footage on social media showed a man holding two dogs on nearby Limehouse Cut before he was Tasered and the dogs shot.

Turnbull broke down as he told the court the dogs were "like family" to him, adding he had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since they were killed in front of him.

But prosecutor Jessica Clarke said Turnbull's animals attacked Denisa Shyti's dog as she walked her pet on his lead.

'Scuffle'

She said: "Mr Turnbull was sitting on a pavement with his two dogs, which were not on a lead. As she approached, his dogs moved towards her dog and started attacking him.

"Ms Shyti tried to stop the attack by getting involved, she put herself to the ground and there was a scuffle between Mr Turnbull's two dogs and Ms Shyti and her dog.

"It's fair to say that Mr Turnbull did try to come to her assistance and separate the scuffle.

"After a few seconds his dogs did retreat. She [Ms Shyti] had a long scratch along her leg.

"She checked her dog, and he was found to have a similar cut on his nose that was bleeding.

"Chunks of hair were missing and there was a long scratch that looked very similar to the scratch that she had received."

'Your failings'

Giving his verdict, District Judge Oscar Del Fabbro said: "He might treat [his dogs] like children or family but keeping dogs and animals is much more complicated because it impacts other members of society.

"Mr Turnbull, whatever happened on that day, it came about as a result of your failings - you should not have had those dogs in the first place."

Turnbull was also banned from owning and controlling dogs for four years, which will run concurrently with his existing 20-year ban.

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation is ongoing into the officers' actions.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]