A COUPLE whose dog was half its required weight have been banned from keeping animals for five years.

Andrew Pickard and Katrina Shapcott were also sentenced to 120 hours’ community service each at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

They had pleaded guilty at a hearing last month to causing unnecessary suffering to Biscuit, a three-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, by not feeding him enough.

RSPCA inspector Terry Speight removed the dog from the couple’s Commercial Street home in October 2005, after which his weight increased from four-and-a -quarter to nearly seven kilos in one month. Presiding magistrate Ron Fisher ordered Shapcott, 21, to pay £500 and 26-year-old Pickard £350 towards the charity’s £1,700 costs of caring for Biscuit.

The couple, who now live on Dodworth Road, were banned from owning or having custody of any animals for five years.

Although Shapcott was the dog’s owner, both defendants accepted responsibility for his welfare. Prosecuting, Brian Orsborn told the court the dog has been found a permanent place to live. He said: “He has been rehomed with a very caring local family and is extremely happy and content.”

Defending, Chris Peace said Shapcott and Pickard were both mortified to find themselves in their predicament. He said: “They were both very pleased to learn, after making their own enquiries, that Biscuit is now happily rehomed.

“Conviction for such an unpopular type of offence is in itself a massive punishment.

“Neither will have plans to get a pet in the foreseeable future as a result of what has happened here.”

Both had been given credit for early guilty pleas.