15015/1A CALLOUS couple looked on as their dog killed a family's cat close to its home in Marlborough on Boxing Day.

Neighbours who saw the sandy brown greyhound or lurcher-type dog grab the cat and shake it to death, said the man and woman with the dog did nothing to stop the attack.

Apprentice jockey Joe Curtis, 16, had to break the news to his mother and father, Mel and Teresa, sisters Hayley, 15, and Melanie, 11, and brother Adam, nine that three-year-old Tiggy was dead.

Joe had stayed at home in George Lane to look after the family's pets while the rest of the family went to Weymouth for Christmas.

Mrs Curtis, who works in Waitrose, said: "Joe phoned on Boxing Dayand told us that Tiggy had been killed.

"It was very, very distressing for all of us and it did spoil our Christmas."

Joe was at work when the attack took place in Ducks Meadow at 2.30pm on Boxing Day.

Neighbours said they saw a couple walking with the dog up the hill by St Mary's School.

The dog broke free from the woman, who had been holding him on a lead, and ran back down the hill a few yards and grabbed the tabby by the back.

Mrs Curtis said: "From what I have been told the dog literally shook the cat to death.

"It just tossed it around like a rag doll, we have been told.

"The man who had been walking with the dog scampered up the hill and did not want to know anything about what was happening.

"The woman shouted to the dog 'No,no,' but that had no effect.

"She made no attempt to go and pull the dog off or anything and just stood watching."

Mrs Curtis said that after the dog dropped the lifeless cat some of her neighbours from George Lane wrapped it in a towel in a bid to revive it but it was already dead.

Mr Curtis, a Marlborough town councillor, and his wife are concerned that the dog could attack again and either harm another pet or even a child.

Mrs Curtis said: "What if that had been a child swinging a toy rabbit and the dog had attacked?

"What would have happened then, would the woman have pulled her dog off the child?"

Mrs Curtis said she wanted to identify the dog and its owners.

She said: "I don't want them to have the dog put down because it's too late to save Tiggy, but I think it should be muzzled when it's out in the town.

"The thing that really upsets us is the fact that the man and the woman walked off without doing or saying anything."

She said the family would like an apology.

"We have buried Tiggy in the garden and it would be nice if they offered to put a tree or a shrub on her grave as a memorial," she said.

The family is now worried about letting their two other cats, Rainbow, 14, and Tiggy's twin sister Smokey go outside their home.

They had owned the twin female cats since they were about seven months old, when their previous owner, a friend, wanted to re-home them.

Mrs Curtis said: "Smokey has become so nervous since this happened. She has been really upset by it."

The woman who had the dog on the lead was described as wearing a long camel coloured coat with a hat with a brim.

Mrs Curtis said: "Apparently they have been seen up here before with the dog, but no-one has seen them since Boxing Day so perhaps they are lying low because of this."

She has appealed for anyone who has any information about the dog or its owners to contact her on (01672) 515391.

The attack on the cat was reported to Marlborough police who would also like to hear any information about the dog and its owners.