A MAN has been banned from owning animals for five years after he beat a dog with a stick.

Footage from a CCTV camera shows Thomas Lovell, of York Road, Southend, using a branch to play with the Staffordshire bull terrier.

But things turned sour after the dog, a two-year-old called Rex, accidentally caught Lovell’s hand with his tooth.

It caused Lovell, 28, to lose his temper and to start beating the dog with the stick in the middle of the street.

The camera then shows him disappear behind a car where he starts to kick something.

Klare Kennett, a spokeswoman for the RSPCA, said they had brought a prosecution against him following complaints from members of the public.

She said: “The dog accidentally caught its tooth on his hand, so he then started hitting it with the stick.”

Lovell appeared at Southend Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unecessary suffering to an animal on March 10 this year, an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

He was given a year-long community order during which he must have treatment for alcohol dependency for six months.

He was also ordered to pay £100 costs to the RSPCA and received a five-year ban from owning animals.

Rex has now been moved to a new home where he has been settling in well.

Miss Kennett said: “The dog has been rehomed. It’s a lovely little thing.”