A WOMAN who killed her dog with a hammer and a kitchen knife on Valentine’s Day has been remanded in custody for her own safety.

Ebony Eve appeared in custody before magistrates sitting in Swindon this morning having been arrested on Monday when her brother raised the alarm after finding the dead pet in their living room.

Eve, 27, pleaded guilty to killing the Shar Pei – called Nettles - by hitting him over the head with a hammer twice and stabbing him multiple times with a kitchen knife but she could not explain why she had done it.

Prosecuting, Keith Ballinger told the magistrates that officers had attended her home on Frobisher Drive shortly before 10am on Monday morning where the defendant let them in to the property.

He said: “As they entered the property they saw blood on the floor and up the walls.

"As they entered the lounge they saw a black-coloured dog on the floor covered with a coat. They described blood splatters on the wall near the dog.

“The defendant appeared confused and spoke quietly. She said she had killed her dog.”

The magistrates heard her brother had been in the property the previous night when Eve was giving the dog a bath because it smelled. He heard a yelp and guessed that the water had been too hot, but went back to sleep.

“When he gets up he finds the dog dead in the living room and his sister saying she had killed the dog,” said Mr Ballinger.

In interview she told officers she had used a kitchen knife and stabbed the dog about 20 times and used a hammer to strike him on the head before covering the body in the living room.

“She accepted being responsible for killing the dog but could not give any explanation as to why she had done it,” Mr Ballinger added.

Eve’s defence solicitor, Mark Glendenning described the events as a “sad and unusual case”.

He told the court Eve had not been represented by a solicitor during police interview, but “an appropriate adult” had been present.

“She fully accepts what she has done, but simply cannot tell me why she has done what she has done,” he said.

“She has been produced in custody by police today, I am not sure if that is for her own protection or to prevent interfering with witnesses.”

Mr Ballinger told the court it was likely she had been remanded for both reasons, as officers had made some door-to-door enquiries nearby where they discovered an “enormous amount of ill feeling towards her” in relation to the incident.

Concluding that a pre-sentence report would need to be prepared on Eve, chairman of the bench Viv Street remanded her in custody.

She said: “We are not going to give you bail, we are going to remand you in custody because of the nature and seriousness of the offence you have been charged with and we have concerns for your own protection.”

Eve will next appear by video link at Chippenham Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on March 3.