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A man caught on CCTV inflicting a catalogue of abuse on two dogs has been banned from keeping animals for 12 years and received a suspended prison sentence.

Security footage from Prior Court, in Billingham, showed Thomas Hardy violently throwing a female tan Cockapoo into a lift before kicking her under the chin.

Hardy also hit the animal five times on the head with hand, placed a stranglehold on her and swung her around by the neck on July 18 last year.

He yanked a second Cockapoo off its front feet on a lead during a separate incident at the tower block ten days later.

Thomas Hardy, 32, from Billigham and the female Cockapoo he was caught physically abusing on CCTV. Photos: RSPCA

Hardy, 32, was prosecuted by the RSPA and admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal by inflicting blunt force trauma, physical violence and intimidatory behaviour.

He was given a 24-week suspended prison sentence when he was sentenced at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Mark Gent said: “It’s hard to understand how someone can treat animals with such contempt and cruelty, and we will never know, as the defendant refused to be interviewed about it.

"We’d sincerely like to thank the police and the security staff for their assistance in this case which has been upsetting for everyone involved.”

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CCTV footage showed the defendant holding the tan cockapoo by the scruff of her neck as he pressed a door buzzer to be let in.

He held the dog between his legs with his thighs compressing her chest as she was suspended off the floor.

Hardy then placed her in a stranglehold and lifted her further off the floor before cuffing her across the head with his right hand.

She was later found nervous and cowering in an unkempt flat littered with faeces. The dog was seized by the police and placed into the RSPCA’s care.

In the incident on July 28, the brown Cockapoo, who didn’t belong to Hardy, was seen following him wagging its tail before he yanked it violently off his front feet.

Its whereabouts are unknown.

A vet said Hardy had inflicted pain and fear on both dogs and they had suffered unnecessarily as a result.

Hardy, of Prior Court, Billingham, had his sentence suspended for 24 months.

Billingham dog owner receives 12-year ban for shocking attacks on Cockapoos in RSPCA prosecution