A Darlington woman has been fined £250 after admitting throwing a hamster out of a window.

Xanthia Jade Wheeldon, of Ashfield Court, Darlington, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal before magistrates sitting in Newton Aycliffe.

In a prosecution brought by the RSPCA, it was alleged that she threw a Syrian hamster, called Snowy, out of a window on or around August 24 last year.

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The 26-year-old was due to go on trial charged with the offence but changed her plea to guilty on the day it was expected to start.

Following her admission of guilt Wheeldon magistrates also banned her from owning any animals for a five-year period.

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