Puppy starved to death after cruel owner left it alone and didn’t tell anyone when she went to prison
Vile woman left animal to die - but has gone back to prison for her crime
A WOMAN has been jailed again for leaving her pet dog to ROT to death – after she failed to organise someone to care for it the last time she went to prison.
Tragic Staffordshire bull terrier puppy Zacko suffered an agonisingly slow death when heartless Gemma Bennie abandoned him alone in her flat.
The one-year-old dog was found dead lying on his cruel owner's clothes where he had crawled in a desperate attempt to find some final comfort.
Bennie had been jailed at the end of January and the dog's decomposed body was found three months later.
A neighbour alerted the authorities about a fly infestation and smell coming from her flat in Filton, Bristol.
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Bennie, 26, admitted animal cruelty and was sent back to prison for 17 weeks and disqualified from keeping animals for life.
Bristol magistrates heard that she failed to tell anyone that the dog was alone when she was first jailed in January.
RSPCA inspector Miranda Albinson said: "Who knows how long it took this poor dog to die alone in that flat.
"We can't know whether it was starvation or dehydration which finally caused his death, but it is clear he would have suffered.
"I found him curled up in his owner's clothes on the bed. He must have gone there for comfort.
"It was a haunting sight - one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
"His suffering was just so unnecessary. No-one else had keys, and no-one knew he was there.
"Simply just sharing this information with a reliable person would have saved his life and saved the lonely, prolonged death that we can only suppose he had."
Zacko was owned by Bennie's former partner, who was also in prison and had left him in her care.
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