![\"Van\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/van.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Royal Mail delivery driver has been suspended after kicking a partially blind dog to death outside a home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n
The incident, which occurred at approximately 11am on Saturday, was recorded by a Ring doorbell camera at the property.<\/p>\n
Ethel, an 11-year-old Shih Tzu, was struck by the postman as he delivered a parcel to owner Eve Lewis, 40.<\/p>\n
The animal was kicked with such force she was sent flying through the air before rolling along the ground multiple times.<\/p>\n
The driver, who was wearing an England football shirt at the time, reportedly denied attacking the pet when confronted by Ms Lewis.<\/p>\n
Ms Lewis, an NHS worker, described the attack as particularly brutal given her pet’s frail condition.<\/p>\n
She said: “He didn’t even just kick her; he toe punted her like she was a football. She flew up in the air and hit the ground and rolled three times. She went flying like she was a football.”<\/p>\n
The owner noted the driver had been walking away before turning back to strike the animal.<\/p>\n
A Royal Mail delivery driver has been suspended <\/p>\n
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GETTY (STOCK)<\/p>\n
Ethel was partially blind and had only one tooth remaining, meaning she posed no threat to the postal worker.<\/p>\n
“I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else… I’m heartbroken and angry,” Ms Lewis added.<\/p>\n
Veterinary staff were unable to save Ethel despite emergency treatment. The dog’s blood pressure dropped dramatically, requiring tubes to be inserted, before internal bleeding was discovered.<\/p>\n
Ms Lewis remained at the veterinary surgery overnight but returned the following morning to find her pet barely conscious.<\/p>\n
![\"Pet\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/pet.jpg\")
A partially blind dog was kicked to death <\/p>\n
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GETTY (STOCK)<\/p>\n
She said: “We always called her Ethel 2.0 because after every surgery she had she would bounce back, but she didn’t make it this time. She was an old gal.”<\/p>\n
Vets determined Ethel had suffered organ failure as a result of blunt force trauma, along with irreversible brain damage.<\/p>\n
Ms Lewis made the decision to have her pet put down on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Royal Mail has launched a full investigation into the incident and confirmed it will cover all veterinary expenses incurred by the family.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the postal service said: “We are deeply sorry for this distressing incident, and we know how upsetting it is for the family. We are treating this matter very seriously.”<\/p>\n
The company added it had reviewed the footage and would take appropriate action once its enquiries were complete.<\/p>\n
Thames Valley Police have implemented safeguarding measures but have made no arrests in connection with the case.<\/p>\n
Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is a criminal offence that can result in up to five years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Royal Mail delivery driver has been suspended after kicking a partially blind dog to death outside a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35884,84,59,2222,50,3056,2331,18329,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-694941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-across-the-uk","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-money","tag-news","tag-royal-mail","tag-sgg","tag-south-east","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}