A COUPLE who left their young puppy with a collar so tight that it embedded itself in her flesh have been banned from owning an animal for five years.

Matthew Roberts and Sharon Clayton claimed Buffy was a stray when the RSPCA picked her up on Monday, January 8, this year suffering from a six-inch long neck wound.

Clayton had called earlier to say a dog had been found in their garden. When officers arrived, Roberts explained how he thought it was just a body when he came across it lying in a heap.

The cross-breed collie received treatment for a half-inch deep infected wound, which had developed over at least a month, caused by the collar becoming embedded in her neck.

Roberts and Clayton were exposed only as the owners when neighbours came forward in response to an Evening News appeal. The pair, of Maple Avenue, Tolladine, were re-interviewed and subsequently admitted owning the dog.

They admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and reappeared before Droitwich magistrates yesterday to be sentenced.

At the last hearing, Nick Sutton, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Buffy, re-named Hope, could never have been walked with the collar embedded into her neck.

Barry Newton, defending Roberts, said there was nothing on record to suggest the 23-year-old was a cruel man.

"His previous offences have been to do with dishonesty and motoring matters," he said. "This wasn't a deliberate act of cruelty."

Dale Sheehan, defending 30-year-old Clayton, said the dog had been brought into the home when the couple could not cope with looking after an animal.

"She practically brings up her children single-handedly and that's why maybe the dog was not cared for as it should have been cared for," he said. "She had no intention of causing the injury."

Mr Sheehan said Clayton, aged 30, had failed to notice the pungent smell of the puppy's wound because it was masked by the smell of nappies at the home.

"She thought the dog was full of bounding health," said Mr Sheehan.

Magistrates ordered Roberts to carry out a 12-month community punishment order and Clayton a 120-hour community rehabilitation order.

They were both banned from owning animals for five years and fined £400 each.