A FORMER professional boxer who savagely punched and kicked a pet dog in a sickening street attack has been spared jail.

CCTV captured Paul Quarmby, 42, withdrawing cash before booting his ex-girlfriend’s Alaskan Malamute, Ajax, before weighing in with three heavy punches.

The former super bantamweight fighter hurled abuse at a man who objected to the cruel beating then dragged the whimpering dog away.

The Northern Echo:

Paul Quarmby, 42, pictured with former world champion boxer, Chris Eubank

Kevin Campbell, prosecuting at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court, said: “A man walked across the road and heard a dog yelping out loudly as if it was in pain.

"He saw a male laying into dog. He was punching it to the head and kicking it.

"In his statement he said: "Ï said: "Leave it alone, pack it in.

"He said Mr Quarmby said: ‘Mind your own f****** business.’

"The man was very upset and said he was in tears when he got home."

Police were called and officers, along with the RSPCA, launched an investigation.

Mr Campbell said the dog was taken to a vet but the level of injury could not be verified.

He added: "There is no doubt that the dog would have suffered mentally and physically."

Quarmby, who fought under Billy Hardy, was lead coach at Hetton Town Boxing Club, which helped hundreds of youngsters on Wearside turn their lives around.

The club, at the former Hetton Library, was forced to close after eight years in 2013 due to rental and repair bills which he could not met.

The court heard Quarmby, who was working as a self-employed tiler at the time of the attack on the dog, was suffering from financial difficulties, a relationship breakdown and had been abusing alcohol.

The court heard the incident happened on Front Street, Hetton-le-Hole on February 26 this year.

At an earlier hearing Quarmby pleaded guilty to one count of causing unnecessary suffering by subjecting a dog to unnecessary physical violence.

Philippa Wylie, mitigating, said: "Mr Quarmby fully accepts the distress caused to those who observed it. He is ashamed of his behaviour and mortified.

"He was very proud of the reputation he has made for himself, in particular his charity work and his boxing work. He is a man who has put a lot of effort into his community. He feels the biggest punishment will the loss of his reputation.

“It is going to follow him around long after the punishment imposed today has ended. He is going to have to live with that.”

Quarmby, of Melanie Crescent, Newton Aycliffe, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work.

He must also pay court costs of £813 and was banned from keeping dogs for 18 months.

Chairman of the bench Roseanne Forster said: “We thoroughly understand the serious nature of this offence. The violence was gratuitous and it was a vulnerable animal.”