Badger baiting: Farm worker Damien Sweeney jailed

Image caption, Damien Sweeney was sentenced to 20 weeks and banned from keeping dogs for eight years

A farm worker has been jailed for causing "gratuitous suffering" to animals by badger baiting.

Damien Sweeney, 34, from Treuddyn, near Mold, Flintshire, was arrested when graphic video footage of his dogs attacking and killing badgers was found on his phone.

He was found guilty of 12 charges relating to badger baiting at an earlier hearing.

Sweeney was jailed for 20 weeks at Llandudno Magistrates' Court.

District Judge Gwyn Jones told him he had caused gratuitous suffering, adding: "It's hard to understand, with badger baiting being illegal since the 1830s, how there has been such a resurgence and how it's considered acceptable in some parts of the community for that to continue.

"It's the killing of wild animals using dogs for that purpose."

He was also banned from keeping dogs for eight years.