A man has been jailed for drowning his former partner’s dog in a bucket of water before burying it in the back garden of her Staffordshire home.

Nicholas Lainton, aged 41, of Harrowby Street, Littleworth, was handed a 16-week sentence by Cannock magistrates for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Lainton, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing, was banned from keeping pets for 10 years. The court heard from RSPCA prosecutor Roger Price.

He said that Lainton was staying with his ex-partner Christine Fitzhugh, at Southfields Road, Stafford, during New Year’s Eve.

Mr Price said Miss Fitzhugh had gone to bed leaving Lainton downstairs and woke the next morning wondering why her 21-year-old collie Lucy was not in the hallway as normal.

Miss Fitzhugh went upstairs to ask Lainton, who was still in bed, where Lucy was.

Mr Price said Lainton responded by saying: “I do not know how to tell you this, but I drowned her in a bucket of water.”

The court then heard that Lainton had later buried Lucy in the garden after wrapping the dead dog in a blanket.

Miss Fitzhugh was said to be “upset, angry and speechless”, and the police and RSPCA were called after she reported the death to a third person.

When the police arrived they found a bucket, filled with approximately three inches of water, sitting next to a “large amount” of dog hair.

Mr Price said that Miss Fitzhugh acknowledged Lucy was old, but she also believed her to be “happy”.

Ian Hodnett, defending, told the court that Lainton was “trying to put the poor dog out her misery.”

Mr Hodnett said 21 years of age is a “tremendous age” for a dog, adding that Lainton drowned the dog after seeing she was in a poor condition, often breathless and falling over.

He added: “He chose a decision which he admits he shouldn’t have done.”

Mr Hodnett told the court that Miss Fitzhugh made a statement to the police, the following day, on January 2.

She admitted to officers that she was considering having Lucy put down in “a few weeks.”