CRUEL Warren Rose was today behind bars for two months after keeping a German Shepherd dog in a pitiful state.The case cost the RSPCA a staggering £4,600 to bring Rose to justice and he has now been banned from keeping animals for ten years.

CRUEL Warren Rose was today behind bars for two months after keeping a German Shepherd dog in a pitiful state.

The case cost the RSPCA a staggering £4,600 to bring Rose to justice and he has now been banned from keeping animals for ten years.

South East Suffolk Magistrates were told five-year-old Sasha was found "extremely underweight" with prominent ribs and pelvic bones.

Sasha's cruel treatment shocked readers after The Evening Star pictured the squalid flat she was kept in at St Francis Court in Ipswich.

She was confined to a disgusting excrement strewn bathroom, left starving and with no natural light.

The court heard Rose, 35, was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog at an earlier hearing. He failed to turn up to court for trial in December last year.

RSPCA inspector Marc Niepold found the dog in "poor bodily condition and extremely underweight."

Flea infested Sasha was "nervous and subdued" and had very little muscle covering her bones. She dropped a third of her natural weight.

The court heard Rose said when interviewed that his estranged wife Ruth was the owner and was responsible for the dog's care and he did not live there. He said he used to feed the dog from time to time and walk it as a favour to his wife.

Neil Saunders, mitigating, said: "He [Mr Rose] maintains his innocence despite the fact he was convicted of this offence, all be it in his absence.

"He was a casual visitor to the flat and used to feed the dog on occasions although it was his wife's prime responsibility."

Ruth Rose was given a conditional discharge in December last year after admitting allowing the dog to live in such conditions.

In sentencing bench chairman John Wooley told Warren Rose, of Chapel Street North, Colchester: "We find there has been a deliberate and prolonged neglect of this animal."

Mr Neipold told the Star in December last year Sasha was back to health and enjoying the warmer climes of a new country – her new owners moved to Portugal.

After the case Ruth, 42, said: "I have no joy in seeing him being sent to prison but he does deserve to be punished. It was an innocent animal and I care what happens to the dog."

On a separate matter Rose was fined £200 for driving with no insurance and given a six-month driving ban following a one car prang on the A12 at Stratford St Mary.

No separate penalty was given for inconsiderate driving, driving otherwise in accordance with a licence and failing to surrender to custody.

Magistrates also ordered him to pay £55 court costs. But because of his means he was jailed for a week to run consecutively to the two month prison sentence for animal cruelty.