• Father throws daughter's kittens into the Thames
• Sentenced to suspended jail term and fines

A 59-year-old man in London was handed a suspended sentence after he threw his daughter’s three young kittens from Twickenham Bridge in southwest London last November, shouting “let them die.”

Andrew Shephard had been helping his daughter rehome the kittens before tipping them from their box into the River Thames. He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court sentenced him to 17 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, in addition to completing 30 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and paying a £154 fine (around $190) plus £85 ($105) court costs.

Prosecutors said witnesses heard him yelling “let them die” and “I want them to die” as he threw the kittens. Shephard later told police he didn’t know “what came over him.”

One kitten was rescued before hitting the water, while the other two were found “wet and muddy” and “in shock” but alive. The animals belonged to his daughter, who had asked him to help rehome them and was unaware of his actions on the bridge.

After his arrest, Shephard expressed remorse, saying he felt “bad about what happened” and that he had been “very drunk at the time.”

Magistrate Elizabeth Evans described his actions as “serious enough to warrant a prison sentence,” but suspended it, noting the probation service believed he had “a good chance of rehabilitation.”

The kittens have since been rehomed, with two living in Chiswick and one in Suffolk.