A TEENAGER has denied blackmailing a pet owner in an incident which ended with a dog being strangled in an Edgware street.

Jerome Walker, of Peachy Close, appeared in the dock at Wood Green Crown Court today and pleaded not guilty to blackmailing the owner of the dog, which had gone missing.

The incident is alleged to have happened in the early evening on November 24, when the owner of the animal, which had been missing, arranged to collect it from someone who had found it.

Mr Walker will stand trial at the court in March.