Speaking publicly for the first time about the sickening incident, Alison McMonagle detailed how her estranged husband William David Streeter viciously beat and strung up her one-year-old golden retriever in a terrifying attack spanning two days, before he threatened to kill her.

At North Antrim Magistrate’s Court yesterday, 28-year-old Streeter from Cloyfin Park, Coleraine, admitted seven counts of animal cruelty and a further count of threatening to kill his wife.

As she recalled the painful death Mac endured, Ms McMonagle said her husband seemed possessed — like a character from a horror movie — as he carried out the senseless killing.

The Coleraine mother-of-two said: “I had always been able to calm Dave down, but this time was different. The look in his eyes was scary. He looked liked Jack Nicholson in The Shining.” And she described how her husband taunted her, telling her: “Your dog is hanging. It will strangle itself. You can hear its claws scraping on the ground.”

Ms McMonagle, who reverted to her maiden name following the attack — which marked the end of her seven-month marriage to Streeter — said she took the difficult decision to speak about her ordeal in an attempt to bring an end to domestic abuse and animal cruelty.

The pair had only been married seven months when Streeter carried out the vicious attack, in which he even changing into steel toe capped boots to cause greater injury to one-year-old retriever Mac, before hanging him by the neck from the rafters in the garage of the family home.

The mother-of-two also described how Streeter taunted her as he carried out the sick attack, exclaiming gleefully: “That b****** is going to hang. It’s going to die. You can hear its claws scraping on the ground. It’s a big dog, he’ll not take long to die.”

And in a cruel addition, Ms McMonagle revealed her former husband forced her to help him dig a grave for Mac.

At North Antrim Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Streeter (28) from Cloyfin Park in Coleraine admitted seven charges of |cruelty to Ms McMonagle’s dog between January 2005 and October 26, 2006. He also pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Ms McMonagle two days later.

Speaking after Streeter dramatically changed his plea, animal-loving Ms McMonagle, who received overwhelming support from Rainbow Rehoming Centre as she prepared to face her violent husband in court, said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the result. I always said I would put Mac to rest and I’ve done that today.”

Ms McMonagle said the violence was sparked after Streeter accused her of spending too much money.

“He started punching and kicking him and Mac ran behind a wall. Dave lifted a boulder and threw it at him. Then he put Mac in his kennel and put a hose in and told me ‘The b******* will drown’.

“He took him into the garage and tied him by his choker chain to the roof. He came back into the house and he was laughing at me. He was saying, ‘The f*****’s claws are scraping on the ground’.

“He went upstairs and came back down in his steel toe capped boots and went back out saying, ‘The f****** will feel this here’.

“The next day he went out and hung Mac in the garage again. He kept coming back into the house and giving me reports on what was happening. He came in said, ‘That will help him, I have just put a boot in his head’ and then he came back later and told me Mac was dead.

“I didn’t believe him but when I went out to the garage and saw Mac lying there I knew he had suffered a terrible death. You could see the pain in him.”

During the two-day attack, Ms McMonagle made numerous unsuccessful attempts to help Mac.

She said: “At one stage Dave put Mac in the kennel and told me not to go near him. I was really frightened. He used to tell me he knew how to make a person disappear. He told me all he had to do was mince the body and feed it to pigs.

“I had always been able to calm Dave down before when his temper got up, but this time was different. T

“he look in his eyes was scary. He looked like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

“Dave was wonderful until just before we married.

“But as soon as the ring went on he changed completely.”