A deputy care home manager who did not do enough to look for her missing sick cat has been banned from keeping animals for 12 months and fined £475.

Yvonne Francis, 36, of Parsonage Road, Laisterdyke, pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates today to failing to meet the needs of her pet Beano and not protecting him from pain, injury, suffering and disease.

Single mother Francis, whose family was going through a difficult time between July 20 and August 2 last year when it happened, said the cat had just a scratch on its face when she last saw it.

But when the RSPCA came into contact with the cat it had a massive tumour, said Nigel Monaghan prosecuting for the animal charity.

The defendant had claimed Beano had been missing for weeks but later admitted to the RSPCA she had not had time to go looking. She said she had been working 16-hour shifts and looking after her children. The cat had to be put down.

Faryal Akhtar, for Francis, said: “She (Francis) has never troubled the courts before but now the shame will hang over her head for the rest of her life.

On top of the fine she was ordered to pay a £47 victim surcharge and told to pay £500 towards the £1,022 costs of the case.