Aberchirder gecko killers sentenced by sheriff

Jordan McIsaac, left, and Daniel Innes were given custodial sentences

Two men who killed a family's two pet geckos have been given custodial sentences.

Daniel Innes, 20, and Jordan McIsaac, 18, put one of the lizards in a kitchen blender.

They filmed the act during a house party in the Aberdeenshire village of Aberchirder last year.

Innes was given a 36-week sentence for the animal cruelty offence at Banff Sheriff Court, with McIsaac getting 33 weeks.

They were also disqualified indefinitely from keeping animals.

'Chillingly evil'

Innes and McIsaac used a phone belonging to the householder's teenage son to film the crime as he slept.

His mother, Amanda Bibby, returned home early from a weekend break to find her pets dead.

They had originally been told they could avoid jail if they showed true remorse.

At the previous hearing in July, Sheriff Philip Mann told Innes and McIsaac in July that their crime was "chillingly evil" and a "matter of great concern" as he deferred sentence for three months.

When the pair appeared before him again two weeks ago, Sheriff Mann told them that he was in a "difficult position" after hearing accounts of their actions over the last three months.

He stressed that he had initially deferred the case against them to give them the chance to demonstrate that a non-custodial sentence might be appropriate.

He added: "For that to work it really would need 100% commitment and I'm not satisfied that you have shown that 100% commitment."

Both men had donated money to the Scottish SPCA animal charity.

The sentences were backdated to 17 October when the pair were remanded in custody at a previous hearing.