A care worker who could not afford to treat her dog's broken leg has been banned from keeping animals for eight years.

Tina Ross, 37, was ordered to hand over her three other dogs by Bingley Magistrates Court after she was found guilty of failing to provide veterinary care and causing unnecessary suffering to her dog.

Ross was sentenced yesterday - 12 months after she had been successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA of failing to look after some puppies.

Prosecutor Ken Sykes admitted that Ross, of Girlington Road, Bradford, was not an evil person.

"She simply does not have the financial resources or capability to look after them," he said.

In mitigation Ross's solicitor Reg Le Pla called for the shortest possible disqualification, saying her dogs meant more to her than children.

"She has not had an easy life and they are of the greatest degree of comfort to her," he said.

"This was a person who cared enough about animals to go to clinics, to try to raise a loan, even at one stage of urging a relative to obtain a loan.

"This has been a bad time for Miss Ross and she fears - perhaps more than even losing her job - losing what might be the mainstay of her life. She has learned a very powerful lesson in this case."

Imposing an eight-year disqualification period from keeping animals and ordering her to pay £250 costs, magistrate Mrs Blanche Woolin described the offence as "very serious".

After the case, Inspector Trevor Walker of Bradford RSPCA said the nine-year-old black and tan dog called Bonnie had gone so long without treatment its broken leg had to be amputated.

"It wasn't just broken, it had disintegrated," he said.

"This is a good sentence. But the critical point is that if this disqualification had been implemented when she first came to court last year, the subsequent offence and suffering would never had occurred."

Bonnie had already been re-homed, he added.

Ross said she was upset about the sentence and was considering lodging an appeal.

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