A MOTHER and son were banned from keeping animals yesterday after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to five dogs.

RSPCA officers swooped after Nora Mannion’s bull terrier attacked a stranger’s pet in the street and found a total of five similar dogs alone in the building.

All had to be destroyed because they were too aggressive to be rehomed, a district judge heard.

Mannion was banned from owning an animal for 10 years and her 21-year-old son, Sonny, for five years after they admitted failing to prevent the animals from being injured.

Ms Mannion, 46, also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by failing to arrange veterinary care for a bitch named Yao.

On May 26 the police, along with RSPCA inspectors, executed a search warrant at Ms Mannion’s home in Denmark Street, Oxford.

The bull terrier cross dogs – named Yao, Billy, Marley, Cannon and Blingers – were taken by the RSPCA to kennels and examined by a vet.

Vets said the dogs had numerous small injuries, some of which had been caused by fighting.

Nora Mannion was sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and banned from owning or keeping animals for 10 years.

She was also made the subject of a three-month curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am and ordered to pay £500 towards RSPCA prosecution costs and £500 compensation.

Sonny Mannion, of The Oval, Rose Hill, was subjected to a three-month curfew, under the same terms as his mother.