A mother-of-four has been banned from keeping animals for five years after neglecting her dog with a broken leg for three weeks.

Drahoslava Kanclova, 36, of Cambridge Street, Lidget Green, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the five-month-old Rhodesian Ridgeback called Hitchcock last summer.

The single mum was ordered to pay £250 towards costs of the case, the RSPCA investigation and vets’ fees which totalled £4,644.50 by Bradford and Keighley Magistrates yesterday. She was also ordered to carry out 140 hours’ unpaid work.

Magistrates heard that Kanclova said she had been away at a family funeral leaving the dog with her partner and his son at Highgate in Heaton where they were living at the time.

When she came back to the UK she had split with her partner who had left the home but was told the dog and the partner’s son had been attacked while walking in the woods and that was why the dog was limping.

The RSPCA got involved after a tip-off from the public saying the dog had been spotted walking on three legs.

Nigel Monagahan, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said if the dog had been taken to the vets earlier he might not have been left with a permanent limp.

Kanclova told police and the RSPCA that she had not taken Hitchcock to a vets because one day he would be limping and the next he had been “playful”.

Kanclova has now signed Hitchcock over to the RSPCA so he can be found a home.