A woman has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years and sentenced to unpaid work after her pet dog was found dead in a bin at her Wearside home.
Rachel Burke, of Dene Street in Hetton-le-Hole, was prosecuted by the RSPCA after inspectors made the appalling discovery of the emaciated body of the lurcher which had been placed inside a bin bag in a wheelie bin in the backyard.
The black-coloured canine weighed just 9.7kg, which would have been less than half the ideal body weight of a similar dog. A post-mortem later revealed Blue, who was six-and-a-half years old, had died from a gastrointestinal disease.
