A VIOLENT man who told a court he loves dogs more than he loves his girlfriend has been jailed – for stabbing them both.

Anthony Moroney was already serving a 21-month prison sentence after admitting attacking Gemma Nicholls at the home they shared in Eston, near Middlesbrough, when he was taken back to court yesterday to be tried for harming her dog.

At Teesside Crown Court, he said he loved both their Staffordshire bull terriers, Becca and Ralph, more than his partner and would have done nothing to hurt them.

But he said he had no memory of what happened on the night of June 2 and said Miss Nicholls must have hurt the dog, which fully recovered.

The court heard that after a heavy drinking session, that evening Moroney and his partner returned to their home in Moorcock Close.

Miss Nicholls said they argued and then she felt a sharp pain in her back and realised Moroney had stabbed her.

She told the court that she thought the defendant had stabbed Becca after the dog bit him.

When police arrived, they had to use CS gas to incapacitate Moroney, who threatened them with a knife.

When paramedics arrived, they found Miss Nicholls lying motionless on a duvet covered in blood with Becca beside her. She denied claims that her pet was an innocent casualty during a brawl between the volatile couple and said she had definitely not stabbed her own dog.

Moroney, 44, who has a 30- year history of violence, said: “I have had dogs all my life and I would not stab an animal.

I love dogs more than I love our lass.”

Moroney, told the court that due to drinking an excessive amount of alcohol he could not remember what happened.

He suffered an injury to his hand which he said was not a dog bite, but had been inflicted by his girlfriend.

“She is a big lass and she was attacking me with her nails. Her nails are like razors,”

he said.

But he was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering and banned from keeping dogs for five years.

He was also given a fourmonth custodial sentence, which will run concurrently with his existing jail term.

After the trial, Chief Inspector Mark Gent, from the RSPCA, said: “The time he serves in prison should serve as a deterrent.

“I am particularly pleased about the five-year ban, because that means that we are protecting animals from the hands of Mr Moroney in the future.”