TWO members of a sick animal torture gang have escaped jail despite an online campaign by thousands of pet lovers to have them jailed.

Last night the family whose pet rabbit was tortured and killed by the gang slammed the sentence handed down to Martin Bell and Frank Hudson as "pathetic".

Bell, 20, and Hudson, 19, both from Seaham, County Durham, were members of a gang who snatched Percy, a much-loved white lion-headed rabbit.

They tried to shave the terrified pet in a bath then threw her out of a window before wringing her neck. They then boasted of their sick game on the internet and even posted a picture.

Magistrates in Peterlee described the incident as "horrendous" but, despite an online campaign by almost 9,000 people calling for them to be jailed, they handed the pair community orders.

Percy’s owner Anthony Atkinson, 31, of Embleton Mews, Seaham, said: “We feel robbed. After months of waiting it ends up with a slap on the wrist.

"They will be out and about, laughing. It is pathetic really. My wife is fuming.”

Percy, who was actually female, had recently given birth to five babies when she was taken from her hutch in June and carried to a party before the sickening abuse was carried out by Bell and Hudson, as well as a 17-year-old and 18-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The baby rabbits died despite the efforts of their owners to rear them by hand because they could not survive without their mother.

Peterlee Magistrates heard how Bell and Hudson admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the pet, whose loss has left the Atkinson family distraught.

Chairman of the Bench William Brown told the pair: "What we have had described to us is quite a horrendous event.

"It is a rabbit, somebody's pet and the difference between civilised people and uncivilised people is how they deal with the creatures on the earth with us.”

The court heard Bell threw Percy out of the window, and one of the teenagers, who will be sentenced at Newton Aycliffe Youth Court next week, wrung her neck.

Mr Brown said the panel considered the custodial sentences, but instead sentenced both men to 18 month community orders with supervision and 200 hours of unpaid work each.

Bell, of Parkside Crescent, Seaham, and Hudson, of Evesham Road, Seaham, were both banned from keeping animals for five years, ordered to pay £85 costs each, a victim surcharge of £60 and £50 each in compensation to the Atkinsons.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Mr Atkinson said his wife Rebecca, his step-children Rebecca, 14, Aaron, ten, and son Brynn, four, were devastated.

Mr Atkinson reported feeling numb, angry and unwilling to go out in case he confronted the youths and lost control.

He said: “This broke our heart.”

A still image posted on Facebook by the group showed the rabbit in Bell's arms as he sat naked in the bath with one of the juveniles who is brandishing a can of lager, and Hudson.

Mike Simpson, mitigating for the men, said both had been subject to threats and, on at least one occasion, violence.

He said: “There has been vilification on social media and perhaps that is what follows, having used social media themselves in the first place.”