A man from Morda who made a homemade snare trap, which injured his neighbour’s cat, has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years.

Michael Anitt, of Erw Wen, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the cat when he appeared at Telford Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Thursday).

The 40-year-old was also fined £406 and ordered to pay £300 costs.

The court heard Anitt made the trap from wire because he didn’t like neighbours’ cats coming into his garden.

On the occasion in question, April 28, he had set the trap and then gone away for the weekend. One of his neighbours’ cats, called Jeremy, came across the trap and, as a result, was caught in it for 12 hours.

He was rescued after his owners, concerned that they hadn’t seen him since the evening before, came across him meowing in pain in Anitt’s garden.

RSPCA inspector Phil Lewis, who investigated the case, said: “Poor Jeremy had got caught around his torso and the more he tried to free himself, the tighter the snare got around him. He simply wasn’t able to get free.

“For over 12 hours Jeremy struggled and by the time he was found by his worried owners, he was clearly in a lot of distress. His owners managed to free him and took him to a vet, where thankfully he was not too seriously injured. He has made a full recovery, but he could have very easily not have been that lucky. The snare could have caught him around his neck, strangling him to death.

“Snare traps are horrible things and can cause a lot of damage to any animal which comes across it. Unfortunately for Anitt he discovered this because his homemade trap injured an innocent animal.”