"UK lawmaker’s wife convicted of cat theft" by Associated Press October 1, 2011
LONDON - The estranged wife of a British lawmaker was convicted yesterday of stealing a kitten from the house of her husband’s lover.
A jury deliberated for five hours before convicting Christine Hemming, 53, of burglary. She is the wife of Liberal Democrat lawmaker John Hemming.
She had denied the charge but was caught on a surveillance camera crawling under a window and entering the house of Emily Cox a year ago. She was later filmed leaving the house with 4-month-old tabby kitten Beauty under her arm.
Hemming told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court in central England that she had gone to Cox’s house to deliver mail to her husband but could not remember what happened next.
“It was just a blur. . . . I left holding a kitten - there is no doubt about that - but I have no recollection of picking the kitten up,’’ she said.
Hemming said she later tried to return the cat, leaving it in the yard of a house in Cox’s neighborhood. It has not been seen since.
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