A ‘sadistic’ farmer has admitted causing unnecessary suffering to his son’s dog after she was dragged along a road by a rope tied to a car.

Kim Norman Rendall, 65, left neighbours shocked when he drove his red Nissan Mrca around a village southwest of Bath with a white husky attached.

Witnesses said they honked their horns and flashed their headlights in a bid to get Rendall to pull over only for him to keep driving on April 17 last year.

Rendall only stopped after a dog walker flagged him down, with Daisy, nine, lying on the road haemorrhaging blood.

He put her in his boot and drove away from the scene, dashcam footage seen by to North Somerset Magistrates’ Court showed.

Daisy died of her injuries.

Rendall left his home in Southover Road, High Littleton, in the afternoon and drove 200 metres with the canine dragged just near the exhaust, Lindi Meyer, prosecuting, said.

Footage shows the vehicle on the road with the boot open and Daisy on her belly being tugged along the pavement for 55 minutes, the court was told.

One witness said in a statement that she had ‘never seen an animal with such serious injuries’ and has been plagued by nightmares since.

Another still gets ‘flashbacks’ of the dog’s suffering months on

Police searched for the defendant and later found him at his mother’s house, where he was having a haircut in the kitchen and enjoying a cup of tea.

Rendall refused to tell officers where the wounded dog was as worries mounted she would die if she didn’t immediately receive urgent care.

Bodycam video showed an officer asking Rendall ‘where is the dog?’ several times – he remained stone-faced.

Police arrested him on suspicion of animal cruelty, prompting Rendall to say: ‘I don’t like this at all.’

The force dispatched 18 officers to track Daisy down as well as a drone – she was found in a cow barn in Gossard Lane, High Littleton, two and a half hours later.

Avon and Somerset Police officer Natalie Cosgrove told the court that in 15 years of policing, it was ‘the worst thing I have ever seen’.

She said: ‘I was shocked at what I saw. I was horrified and physically sick that a nine-year-old dog was subjected to this cruelty.’

‘This is one of those jobs that will haunt me forever,’ she added.

Meyer said the incident has ‘clearly had a lasting effect on people’ Rendall’s refusal to tell officers where Daisy’s whereabouts was ‘sadistic’.

Character references praised Rendall as a commendable farmer who, his representative said, had ‘poor judgement on that day and said ‘was learning difficulties and hearing problems’.

Rendall, who pleaded guilty to two counts of unnecessary animal suffering at an earlier hearing, cried as the references were read out.

The defendant will be sentenced on 21 November at Bristol Crown Court after magistrates decided their maximum sentencing powers were not sufficient.

They suggested a starting point of two years behind bars for his crimes.

He has been granted unconditional bail until his next hearing at Bristol Crown Court on November 21.

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