THE Greenock Telegraph’s powerful Justice for Pets campaign has been further strengthened with a doubling of demands by MSPs for a review of an inexplicable law which has allowed the massacre of defenceless animals in Gourock to go unpunished.

Inverclyde Labour man Duncan McNeil has joined forces with the SNP’s Stuart McMillan in dispatching letters to the heart of the Scottish Government following our revelation that a time bar legal loophole spares the prime suspect for the Pets’ Corner slaughter from prosecution.

Mr McNeil has pointedly told Justice Secretary Michael Matheson: “The Inverclyde community feels extremely let down by a justice system that will not ensure a prosecution.” The MSP’s missive comes after Greenock-based Mr McMillan pressed Mr Matheson to act ‘as a matter or urgency’ in a first-name terms letter to his SNP Holyrood colleague.

The frustrating legal anomaly prevents the accused man from having to face justice over the 2011 Gourock outrage because a DNA breakthrough in 2013 came more than six months after the commission of the crime.

Mr McNeil branded the brutal onslaught — carried out using a golf club and a ‘large and powerful dog’ — as ‘appalling’ in his letter to Mr Matheson.

The MSP added: “I would ask for a review of the statutory provision of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act to address this anomaly.

“Clearly there is a gap in the law if we are unable to bring to justice the person who committed this despicable crime against defenceless animals.” Thousands of Telegraph readers have flocked to sign up to our campaign petition at the Tele office, newsagents’ shops and council buildings throughout the district.

Meanwhile, more than 1,500 people — some from as far afield as Australia — have registered their support for our appeal online at http://chn.ge/1QBjUhu Gourock woman Allison Black last week organised a candlelit vigil at Pets’ Corner and praised our drive for justice amid a throng of animal lovers who signed our petition en masse.

One man who attended the event told us: “I think that what you are doing in highlighting this matter is absolutely brilliant.” Justice chief Mr Matheson is yet to respond to Mr McNeil and Mr McMillan.