Enormous personal pressures led a woman to drown three kittens and then leave them in a carrier bag behind her flat, Southend magistrates heard.

Tania Sears, 31, from Westcliff Park Drive, Westcliff, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary cruelty to three five-month-old kittens on January 28.

The court heard a neighbour found the dead animals dumped in a Tesco Metro carrier bag at the back of her flat. Janice Carroll, prosecuting, said the neighbour knew the kittens belonged to Sears because she had previously seen them playing in her garden.

She said: "It was apparent the cats had been drowned - the police were called, and a post mortem confirmed drowning.

"The defendant explained originally she had two cats, one disappeared, and the other had four kittens.

"She decided she couldn't keep three of the kittens." Ms Carroll added Sears felt she had no option but to drown the kittens, although she realised it was cruel.

She added: "She called the PDSA, who she said couldn't take them, but if she had called the RSPCA they would certainly have taken them."

Speaking in Sears' defence, Peter Sheldon said the drownings resulted from personal pressures in her life.

He said: "The story begins when a landlady at a previous address wanted to take possession of her home, because the rent had not been paid by the housing benefit at the time.

"More pressure was put on her and the locks were changed and reports made to the police about attempts to evict her unlawfully.

"The pressure became so tremendous, she decided to move to poorer accommodation. The cat then gave birth to four kittens and she couldn't look after them."

"She was under a great deal of pressure, and she drowned those cats after making attempts at getting them homed." The court also heard Sears' children had to move to live with their father because she was unable to look after them.

Stipendiary magistrate Ken Sheraton said he considered the matters serious enough for a community sentence, and didn't rule out a prison sentence.

The case was adjourned to March 10 for pre-sentence reports.

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