​A PET owner who killed a dog with a hammer and was responsible for the deaths of two other dogs has been sentenced.

Christopher Dance, 23, formerly of Knightsfield Road, Sittingbourne, who was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering after beating his Staffordshire Bull Terrier to death, was sentenced at Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court today.

He had also been convicted of failing to prevent the dog fighting with a Jack Russell which it had killed. Another dog, injured in the same fight last May, also died.

Magistrates today banned Dance, who now lives in Maidstone, from keeping or owning a dog for 10 years and gave him a 24-month community order, a six-month curfew and ordered he pay £750 costs. He will also have to undergo an aggression replacement training course.

RSPCA chief inspector Dermot Murphy said: "I am pleased with the sentence. We think the court has taken the crime seriously by disqualifying him from keeping animals and giving him a decent fine and community order."