• Emma Parker, 39, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
• For killing and devouring her pet hamster with a knife while it was still alive.
• Parker said the incident took place at her home in mid-May.

A lady who was caught on camera killing and devouring her pet hamster received a 12-month prison sentence in Lincolnshire.

An RSPCA inquiry was started when videos showing Emma Parker, 39, slicing the animal with a knife while it was still alive went viral online.

At Lincoln Crown Court, she pleaded guilty to one count of putting a protected animal through needless suffering.

According to testimony given in court, Parker, of Belvoir Gardens in Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, had a Class A heroin addiction.

The video’s unsettling material, according to a veterinarian who saw it, would have caused both physical and psychological harm to the pet, Mr. Nibbles, as hamsters were prey animals that could experience fear.

Parker claimed that she was aiding the hamster’s death after it had been bitten by one of her dogs during an interview with the police while acknowledging that she was in the video.

Parker said the incident took place at her home in mid-May, but refused to name those filming the clip, telling police: “These are not pleasant people”.

Passing judgement Parker was instructed by Judge James House KC to consider the fact that Parliament recently increased the maximum penalty for this type of animal abuse from six months to five years in prison.

He said it was “abhorrent” that violence had been inflicted on a defenseless animal for others’ entertainment.

“The hamster was injured at least twice and then while still alive cut in half,” the judge said.

“You are then seen holding a bottle of water and then eating the two halves of the dissected hamster.”

Judge House also banned Parker from having animals for 15 years, adding her cruelty had been “as terrible as could be”.

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