Dudley couple who inflicted horrific fatal head injuries on two dogs are banned from owning animals

A man and woman from Brierley Hill have been handed animal bans and suspended prison sentences after admitting to inflicting horrific injuries to their dogs which led to both animals dying.

Katie Byard, aged 35, and Richard Morgan, 34, pleaded guilty to their crimes after being investigated by the RSPCA.

The animal welfare charity received a number of complaints from members of the public about Byard's injured dogs - injuries that had been inflicted while the pets were under her and Morgan's care.

A vet logged concerns regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of a small Terrier breed dog, called Teddy, who was found to have suffered a fractured skull.

Concerns were then raised about a second dog owned by the same person, a white Chihuahua named Coco, who had been brought in to vets a few days later with suspected non-accidental injuries. 

Coco was showing signs of trauma, bruising and swelling to the left side of her face - vets found that she was kicked so hard that her eye ruptured and her eye socket was fractured.