A man jailed for illegally docking four puppies' tails has been accused of causing "hideous cruelty".

George Charles Williams, from Neville Gill Close, Wandsworth, was given a lifetime ban on keeping animals after he was found guilty of five breaches of the Animal Welfare Act, including tail docking, causing unnecessary suffering and welfare offences.

The 42-year-old, who denied all the charges, was also convicted for docking a jack russel's tail and was sentenced to six months in custody, to run concurrently, for each offence.

RSPCA inspector Natasha Wallis investigated Williams after he took his jack russell terrier, Bert, to the Blue Cross for treatment in June last year.

Inspector Wallis said: "Whether he used a knife or a pair of scissors, the dogs would have suffered a huge amount of pain.

"There was no reason for Mr Williams to dock the tails of these dogs, and no excuse for the cruelty he subjected them to."

During sentencing at Lavender Hill Magistrates Court on Tuesday district judge Sheila Bailey said the animals must have been caused "agonising pain" and that a custodial sentence was appropriate in such a case.