A HEARTBROKEN Calne man whose pet cat was butchered ten months ago was left devastated when its twin died of injuries from another horrific attack.

Ten months ago, neighbours of Nicholas Haines, of Bryans Close Road, found his family's ten-year-old cat, Terry, in their garden with its throat cut.

Mr Haines, 38, who is divorced with two children, never found out who was responsible for killing the family pet.

Then on July 9, Mr Haines, a construction engineer, returned home from work to find Terry's twin, Arthur, who had been missing for two days, slumped against a wall at the bottom of the garden. The pet had a one-inch thick lorry rope knotted around its tail.

A loop had been tied to the other end of the six feet piece of rope, which Mr Haines thinks the offenders may have used as a grip to swing or drag the cat.

Arthur crawled to his owner but because his spine was broken he kept falling down.

Mr Haines took the cat indoors, put it in front of the fire and immediately called the vet. He then rushed the pet to Calne Veterinary Surgery but Arthur's injuries where so severe that Dr Irene de Best could do little for him.

To avoid Arthur further suffering Mr Haines agreed to have him put down.

Mr Haines, said: "It's really sad but when I saw him I knew he was going to have to be put to sleep, he could only move his head and his front paws."

Dr de Best said: "It's always very distressing for people when they come in with a paralysed animal.

"The cat was in shock, it couldn't move and had no reaction whatsoever below it's shoulders.

"It's back was hurt so badly we couldn't do anything about it. There was no chance of a recovery.

"The owner was understandably very upset.

"It's terrible for people because they don't know what happened to their animals and their pets can't tell them, so they feel very guilty."

Mr Haines' children, Sean aged 14 and Simon, 11, live with their mother in Swindon. They had named their pet cats after their favourite characters from the hit TV show Minder Arthur Daley and Terry McCann.

"The worst bit was telling my two children because they loved him. We've had the cats since they were kittens," said Mr Haines.

"They used to come down and play football in the garden and the cat would be out in the garden with them.

"When I told them there was a lot of upset. They were in floods of tears that night and all the next day.

"I don't understand why anyone would hurt Arthur, he was such a friendly animal."

Mr Haines' partner, Lynne Amor, said: "There is somebody really sick out there. Nicholas was really upset."

Calne sergeant Nic Shorten said that the police had drawn a blank regarding the motive for the attack.

"We are appealing to anyone with information which led to the poor cat's demise. In my opinion this is despicable act," he said.

"The owners are very distressed and cannot believe anyone could do this."

Mr Haines' neighbour Oliver Burchell, 64, said: "It was disgusting, really, it wasn't a nice way to go. I was horrified. I think whoever did it should be caught but I don't think they will be."

Mr Haines said: "I just want to get the people who did this. If I walked past them in the street I'd just go, I'd lose my head."