A MAN has been jailed for eight months and banned from owning animals after he admitted swinging a dog around by his lead against the wall of a train.

Kieren Milledge, 22, of no fixed address, admitted to causing the unnecessary suffering of an animal and possession of a bladed weapon at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court this morning.

The Staffordshire bull terrier was attacked on a train between Braintree and Witham on October 10 and staff were forced to cancel the service after they discovered the poor dog's excrement on the seats and walls of a train carriage.

The dog died three days later after appearing to choke and was buried by members of the family who were unaware of the attack.

The dog's body has now been recovered but it is unlikely that a post-mortem will be carried out.

After looking at CCTV in an effort to understand what happened, footage revealed the Staffordshire bull terrier being abused by Milledge at about 10.30pm.

CCTV showed Milledge viciously attacking the dog by hanging him by his lead and then swinging him against the train wall.

The dog was then placed on a seat while Milledge pushed his foot against the dog’s face.

Lesley Chips, prosecuting, said: "The CCTV shows he was beating the dog with his hands, knees and feet.

"He was completely lifting the dog off the floor by his neck and he was losing consciousness as he was flung around the room.

"He was pushing his foot against the dog’s head and pulling the lead, which appears to be choke chain.

"This was a continued and brutal attack.

"He smashed the dog into the side of the wall of the carriage. Other members of the public were on-board, one said they could hear him calling the dog by the c-word.

"This man should not be allowed to have an animal for an indefinite period."

Joanne Pomfrey, mitigating, said: "I don’t propose to put forward any defence.

"He fully accepts the prosecution’s case.

"He has told me that he had been drinking heavily that day and has no recollection of the incident.

"The dog, Ronnie, had been with Mr Milledge since April and he took it from a family friend who was unable to keep him.

"He [Milledge] believes the dog died from a heart attack, but there is no confirmation of that.

"He contacted the RSPCA to see if they could help provide assistance in burying him, but they could not.

"It was an appalling and stressful incident.

"His girlfriend has had several death threats as well and has left Essex.

"He is homeless and has been for several months. He has been sofa-surfing ever since.

"His family are now suffering as well. He has no contact with his mother and little with his father."

Passing sentence, chair of the bench Ian Andrews, said: "This was a disgraceful and totally unwarranted sustained and inhumane attack, amounting to torture for 20 minutes.

“Not only was this by you kicking and kneeing him, you threw him and choked him, thrashing him against the wall.

“We heard you were identified by CCTV, however we also heard that Ronnie had died three days after.

“We deem this so serious that only a custodial sentence is sufficient.”

DS Steve Maguire, of the British Transport Police, read this statement outside the court today:

Officers from British Transport Police arrested Milledge on Wednesday following a phenomenal response on social media, just hours after appealing for information.

Milledge had been held in custody since his arrest for his own protection, following a number of threats made against his life.

Today he was jailed for six months for possession of a bladed article, with a further eight weeks imprisonment to run consecutively for a previous offence.

He was also jailed for 21 weeks to run concurrently with the eight-month prison term for causing unnecessary suffering to the dog and was banned from owning any animal in the future.

Magistrates ordered Milledge to pay a victim surcharge of £150.