A Selby mother has been banned from keeping animals for five years after she admitted causing unnecessary suffering to her two pet rabbits.

One of the animals was found dead and infested with maggots, the town's magistrates heard.

Peter Tetlow, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said police officers attended the home of mother-of-three Lisa Barr, in Flaxley Road, Selby, on August 24.

They found a dead rabbit with part of its body eaten away by maggots, lying next to a live rabbit, in a fly-ridden hutch at the back of the house.

RSPCA inspector Gill Murphy searched the area and later located Barr, who admitted she had owned the rabbits for three months.

Mr Tetlow said a veterinary examination found the grey dead rabbit was "extremely thin" and "infested with large, fleshy maggots."

Its cause of death was "impossible to determine", but the vet concluded it had received "poor care" during its life.

A black and white rabbit, which was still alive, was also reported to be very thin and clinically dehydrated with overgrown claws.

Barr, 27, who now lives in temporary council accommodation, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering. She also admitted two charges of abandoning an animal.

Magistrates banned her from keeping any animals for five years.

Barr was also given a one-year conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £218 towards boarding and vet fees and prosecution costs.

Magistrates ordered that the surviving rabbit should be kept by the RSPCA until a proper home could be found.

Ruth Gill, mitigating, said her client was forced to flee the Flaxley Road address because of domestic violence by her ex-partner.

Barr temporarily moved to her friend's and then mother's house with her three children.

Mrs Gill said: "She was in no fit state to think about the rabbits' welfare, but deeply regrets not handing them in."

Magistrates told Barr: "You undoubtedly caused unnecessary suffering to these rabbits, which resulted in the death of one of them.

"We feel you are genuinely sorry for what happened."

Updated: 13:39 Wednesday, January 10, 2001