A sick thug who repeatedly slashed at a “defenceless” dog with a machete has been locked up. Prosecutor Laura McBride told Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday that Reece Cockroft, then aged 19, had armed himself with the blade during the incident at a house in Bradford last November. Miss McBride said Cockroft was swinging the machete around and the dog began barking. She said: “The defendant started swiping the machete towards the dog and he has slashed the dog with the knife around five times.” The dog suffered cuts to its nose, head and across the face. In a victim impact statement relayed to the court, the dog’s owner, who must not be identified for legal reasons, said the animal had also suffered a fracture, believed to be to its head, during the incident. She said the dog now barks more at people, cowers more and is anxious. The woman said the dog was only protecting her that day and didn’t deserve what happened. Cockroft, now 20, admitted a charge of causing injury to the dog as well as other offences relating to the female complainant. The court heard that he had previous convictions for offences involving violence and arson and on Wednesday, Judge Colin Burn sentenced him to a total of 18 months in a young offenders institution for all his offending. Judge Burn said Cockroft had subjected the dog to a quite sustained attack and had caused it significant and serious injury. He added: “Not just the fracture but many cuts to a pretty small and essentially defenceless animal.”