I am equally disgusted by the internet lynch mob.

A list of possible reasons for her actions:

1. She's mentally ill.
2. She's a psychopath (most of them aren't serial killers).
3. She's simply a mean, thoughtless person.
4. She's a bird-lover with no sense of perspective who thought she was protecting the neighborhood sparrows from a potential predator.
5. She's an actor in one of those What Would You Do? TV specials gone horribly awry.

I think she's more in danger from the neighbourhood lynch mob. I would guess she'll end up having to move out of the area and if she ends up with a criminal conviction, she may well lose her job too.

She sounds seriously depressed. The article says

'Her father Maurice is hospital in the moment and is very ill. I think she was just in a world of her own. We all are at the moment'

. . . . neighbours described Mrs Bale as a reclusive woman, who 'kept herself to herself', and lived on her own in a terraced property just two streets away from where the footage was shot.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: 'She goes out every day at about 8am and comes back at 5pm each night. She doesn't really speak to anybody and lives on her own.

I hate animal abuse -- it makes me see red -- but she sounds damaged and in pain herself. So I don't know how I feel except glad this kitty is OK.

I would guess she'll end up having to move out of the area and if she ends up with a criminal conviction, she may well lose her job too.

I have no problems with any of these results.

I don't get the "squeamishness." I'll refrain the level of snark I employed on the MeFi thread, but it's a cat being put in a bin. The cat was later taken out of the bin, intact.

If it was a video of a cat getting squished my a car, I'd understand being squeamish or afraid to look at the link. Some people are too damn delicate. Oh no! My sensibilities! Watch out, you almost dropped your monocle in your tea.

The perp defends her actions as a moment of madness.