'Skinny staffie' dog dies after cruel woman abandoned him in filthy house

A woman has been banned from keeping any animal for five years after a neglected dog was found 'shaking' in a squalid house, the RSPCA has revealed.

The charity said the 'skinny staffie' - called Ronnie - was found 'abandoned, living in filth and in desperate need of veterinary care'. His owner Nina Jones, 35, of Hazel Grove, Radcliffe, near Bury, has now been convicted and sentenced.

Sadly Ronnie had to be put to sleep to end his suffering. The RSPCA said a veterinary report considered by magistrates said the dog would have been suffering 'for at least three or four weeks, and potentially longer'.

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Jones was sentenced at Wigan Magistrates' Court on Thursday, December 14, after she pleaded guilty to three separate animal welfare offences. Details of the case have only just been released by the RSPCA. The case followed concerns reported to the RSPCA about an abandoned dog at the property. Animal rescue officer Lee Farrons attended in November last year after a neighbour intervened.

He said: "The neighbour opened the back door because it was unlocked and found a very skinny, abandoned dog in the house. The dog, called Ronnie, was very thin and not in a good condition.

"He was a black male staffie-type dog who was visibly shaking. He had a large growth on the bottom left of his mouth and some discharge around his eyes and I could see his ribs and spine without having to get close. The neighbour told me she went into the house as she was concerned that the animals had been abandoned.

"She showed me a video and some photos of the inside of the house when she entered and the house looked very messy with lots of faeces and litter on the