A HOMELESS man has been jailed for starving three Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppies and causing them a "long and painful" death.

Mark Alred, 39, was supposed to be looking after the dogs at an address in Prospect Road, Wapping, Bradford, but the animals died of malnutrition and emaciation, caused by a lack of food.

He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court today, a week after a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to attend a previous hearing.

Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Alred had begun looking after the animals on December 19 last year, but had denied he was their owner.

The court heard he apparently told police he was merely looking after the dogs, under the impression he would receive money to buy them food.

He was said to have initially bought £3 of dog food, but after that ran out, he only visited the property occasionally to provide the animals with water.

During a visit on December 26, he found one of the dogs had collapsed, but failed to check whether it was still alive.

He then returned to the house on January 2 this year, and called the police, who attended and found all three of the dogs had died.

One dog was found in a bathroom "surrounded by faeces and empty packs of dog food", with the other two discovered in an upstairs bedroom.

Mr Monaghan said: "When asked why he didn't seek any help, the defendant said there would have been repercussions with the owners of the dogs, who would have made him pay £450 for them.

"The dogs had been massively neglected and were less than half their expected bodyweight."

In mitigation, Scott McLaughlin said Alred, who told the court he was homeless, had never set out to take ownership of the animals and thought he would be given money to buy more food.

"He hadn't set out to deliberately torture the animals, but accepts it was his responsibility to care for the dogs," said Mr McLaughlin.

Chairman of the bench Vicky Reynolds sentenced Alred to 16 weeks in jail, also imposing a lifetime ban on keeping any animals, which cannot be appealed for five years.

"This is one of the most serious cases of animal neglect we have seen in these courts," she said.

After the hearing, RSPCA Inspector Danielle Grimshaw, who had been involved in removing the dogs from the house, said: "Mr Alred made a conscious decision to allow the animals to die a long and painful death."