A man who viciously beat his girlfriend's four-month-old kitten to death at her flat in Birmingham has avoided a prison sentence.
Mark Murphy (27) of Teviot Tower, New-town, was given a four-month sentence suspended for two years, ordered to pay £515 costs, and banned from keeping any animal for ten years after admitting animal cruelty.
Nick Sutton, prosecuting, said the kitten, called Leo, had been given to Murphy's girl-friend by her brother as a birthday present.
He said she left home on the morning of August 16 last year and later received a brief telephone call from the defendant who told her the kitten was dead.
When interviewed Murphy admitted "slapping" the kitten because he was concerned about the animal's hygiene and said he had no experience in looking after cats.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, an unemployed Birmingham man who was caught by a RSPCA inspector giving such a terrible beating to his dog that it lost the sight in one eye was given a suspended prison sentence.
John Hall (19) of Hunton Road, Erdington, was sentenced to four months imprisonment suspended for two years, ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work, pay £1,008 costs, and was banned from keeping any animal for ten years, after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to the animal.
