A MAN dubbed the "Hemlington cowboy" is being sought by police after failing to turn up to court for sentencing on animal cruelty charges today.

John Michael Ginty, 25, also gave a false address when he appeared before the court yesterday, before being convicted on seven charges of animal cruelty towards dogs and a sparrowhawk.

He was bailed ahead of today's sentencing but did not turn up to court and a warrant was issued for his arrest after his solicitor said his absence could not be explained.

Ginty was dubbed the "Hemlington cowboy" last year after being jailed for six weeks for riding horses at speed over land owned by a housing association, in breach of a court order imposed on him.

His ex-partner Nicola Bradley, also 25 and from Dalwood Court, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, wept today as she attended Hartlepool Magistrates Court and was handed a 12-month community order, with 20 days' rehabilitation, on animal cruelty charges. She was ordered to pay £500 costs and was banned from keeping or caring for animals for ten years.

The pair, who denied the charges, were found guilty of cruelty after dogs in their care were not given treatment for injuries and infections, leading to one dog having its tail amputated, one having its eye removed due to an untreated injury and another suffering with a serious leg injury.

They also captured a wild sparrowhawk and kept it in the garden, itself a serious offence, where it was tethered to a perch and surrounded by loose dogs.

As Bradley wept John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: "The first emotion she has shown in the case is when her own plight is in jeopardy. Throughout the case no emotion or contrition was shown. The dog, Spike, had to have its tail amputated when all she had to do was contact the vet."

“The sparrowhawk was a wild bird in extreme distress with dogs surrounding it.

“That bird’s horror of its full circumstances are only too dreadful to think about.”

He said the offence was aggravated by the fact Bradley had three children who used the back yard regularly, and would have seen the animals suffering, and she did "nothing to protect them from that".

The court heard from a probation officer who said much of the offending was "laziness" and Bradley needed some help with motivation.

Sentencing her, bench chairman John Jenkins said: "Miss Bradley, I think you appreciate how serious these offences are and I hope this has been a wake-up call for you. You have three young children. They have seen things they shouldn't have seen in the yard. But I feel you need support rather than punishment."

The six dogs taken into RSPCA care will now be rehomed, and the sparrowhawk was released back into the wild after undergoing rehabilitation at a specialist wildlife centre.