When two brothers who filmed themselves torturing a dog were spared jail it provoked an outcry. Yet England and Wales has the lightest maximum sentence in Europe for animal cruelty offences. Now an MP is hoping to make the law tougher on perpetrators.
There was outrage when the abuse to which Andrew and Daniel Frankish subjected a bulldog became public knowledge.
The brothers, from Redcar in Teesside, had repeatedly stamped on the dog and thrown it down stairs. As a result the dog became paralysed in the back legs and was eventually put down.
Yet they were given only a suspended sentence at Hartlepool Magistrates Court. Even if they had been jailed, the maximum prison sentence they could have faced was six months - meaning they would be released in just three.
The sentence attracted widespread criticism. Nearly 500,000 people signed an online petition calling for a tougher penalty. Others held a vigil for the abused dog while a plane was flown over Middlesbrough FC's stadium during a match, calling for the brothers to be locked up.
Please sign the petition here: www.change.org
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