'Bash it, bash it': Cruel primary school worker and boyfriend made toddler attack animals in barbaric 'family day out'

09.02.2022 - 16:59 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A teaching assistant who encouraged a two-year-old she was caring for to kill badgers and foxes during a family day out has been found guilty of wildlife offences.

Paris Jade Carding, 28, of Fawley Grove, Wythenshawe, appeared in 32 video clips showing 'shocking and horrendous' incidents of animal cruelty which were obtained following a joint investigation by RSPCA and Cheshire Police

In one video, Carding is heard saying: ''There it is, it’s a pig [badger] isn’t it. Bash, bash it, ooh, it’s biting’.”

READ MORE: Fury as mindless vandals attack Manchester Arena memorial AGAIN

Her boyfriend, Grant Leigh Jnr, 30, of the same address, was also found guilty. In one clip, Leigh Jnr is seen showing the toddler how to hit a badger with a spade.

In another clip, Carding also encouraged the toddler to get a lurcher dog to attack a badger sett saying: ''Her face is going to be smashed. Good boy, get him out. Look at them fighting.''

She further baited three dogs into ''pulling a fox to pieces.''

Inquiries revealed she had been joined on the barbaric family expedition by her boyfriend and his ex-huntsman father, Grant Leigh Snr, 52, of Marler Road in Hyde, Tameside.

One picture showed Grant Jr holding a dead fox with a child accompanied by the caption: ''Family day out, learn these kids young. Hunting mad!''

Carding, who worked at a primary school in Manchester for six years until 2021, was found guilty of five cruelty charges under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 at Tameside Magistrates' Court.

Grant Sr was found guilty of two offences under the Animal Welfare Act.

Grant Jr changed his plea to guilty at the start of the trial - admitting to seven cruelty offences.

The joint investigation began in October 2020 after a