A MUM convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog committed the offence through ignorance rather than malice, a court has heard.

Sarah Probyn, of Oatfield Close, Colchester, was given a year's conditional discharge and was banned from keeping animals for a year at Harwich Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The court heard that the 28-year-old had bought a ten-week-old rottweiler puppy called Roxy for £50, from a stranger in Castle Park on December 18.

She was told at the time that it had an elastic band wound tightly around its tail, in an illegal effort to dock it.

However, Ms Probyn maintained that she did not realise the band was causing pain to the animal until the following evening.

She added that she phoned a friend on the morning of December 20 to give her a lift to the vets that afternoon, but was visited soon afterwards by an RSPCA inspector and a police officer, who were acting on a complaint.

Inspector Carla Boreham said that it was obvious the dog was in pain, with swelling, redness and inflammation to its tail.

Mitigating, Donald Oates told the court that Ms Probyn was a single mum to three children, one with a medical condition which necessitated trips to Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

"This is an ill-conceived prosecution which sees the might of the RSPCA against a single mum in difficult circumstances," he said.

Chairman of the bench, magistrate Rosemary Stamp, told Ms Probyn: "We accept your version of events, but the puppy was clearly suffering and in great pain, so we do find you guilty. We believe that it should have been taken to the vet immediately."

Probyn's co-defendant, her former partner Dean Lawrence, 33, of Stalin Road, Colchester, was cleared of the same charge. He had been present when Ms Probyn bought the dog, but they did not live together and he had no legal responsibility for it.

The dog, which has since completely recovered, has an order upon it so that neither Ms Probyn nor Mr Lawrence can own it in future.