Jail for pair who chased man into Edinburgh supermarket before killing his dog with metal bar
The incident took place outside a Premier Store supermarket in the Calders area of the Capital in May 2024
Two men who chased a man into a supermarket before one of them battered his dog to death with a metal pole are now both behind bars.
Dean McKay and Daniel Devlin chased pet owner Kyle Pugh into the store before McKay launched an attack on the man’s German Shepherd named Goldie.
McKay, 38, kicked the animal to the body before killing the dog by hitting it over the head with a metal bar.
Devlin took part in the horror attack by brandishing a knife and a claw hammer at Mr Pugh during the incident outside the Premier Store supermarket at the Calders area of the Capital in May 2024.
McKay and Devlin both fled before police officers - including an armed response team - raced to the scene and sealed off the area surrounding the supermarket.
Devlin, 39, was subsequently traced and arrested soon after, while McKay handed himself in to a local police station four days later.
The pair pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by approaching Kyle Pugh while in possession of a hammer and a knife at Calder Park in Edinburgh when they appeared at the city’s sheriff court earlier this year.
McKay admitted to a charge of causing an animal unnecessary suffering by kicking the dog on the body, striking her on the head with a metal pole causing her death during the incident on May 31, 2024.
Allegations of striking the dog with a knife and a claw hammer were deleted from the charge.
McKay, of Calders, Edinburgh, was jailed for 27 months and given a lifetime ban from keeping or owning animals at a court hearing two weeks ago.
Devlin, of the city’s Juniper Green, appeared for sentencing on Friday where Sheriff Alison Stirling imposed a 12 month prison on him backdated to his remand date of April 11.
Previously prosecutor Rachel Hill told the court Mr Pugh was attending the Premier Store with his two Alsatians, Goldie and Buddy, at around 3.30pm on May 31, 2024.
Ms Hill said McKay was seen “shouting, swearing and making threats” towards the man while Devlin aggressively confronted him while “carrying a plastic knife and claw hammer”.
The court heard Mr Pugh managed to take refuge inside the store and “both accused have left for a short time before returning” to the area.
The fiscal said: “When the accused McKay returned he was in possession of a metal pole and kicked the dog Goldie before swinging the metal pole down, striking the dog Goldie to the head, causing her death.”
The court heard horrified shopkeepers who witnessed the attack had “activated the panic alarm to alert the police” and McKay and Devlin fled the scene.
Police officers including armed response and a dog unit descended on the estate and sealed off the supermarket and a vet from a local practice was requested to attend.
Ms Hill said: “The [vet] has inspected Goldie and found no puncture wound to the body although there was instability to the neck vertebrae suggesting the blunt force trauma during the incident resulted in a broken neck.”
During a police interview Mackay told officers: “He set his dug [sic] on me, he said to the dug ‘get um’.
“So aye I admit I got the pole and hit the dug.”