AN MP says she hasn’t given up on her hopes of a change of a law so that those convicted of animal cruelty receive tougher sentences.

Redcar MP Anna Turley’s Private Members Bill, which if passed would have increased the maximum sentence for such crimes to five years jail, was never heard after it ran out of Parliamentary time.

The MP blamed “filibustering” by Tory MPs and said she was disappointed the bill had been pushed off the agenda.

However, she intended to take it forward again in the next session of Parliament.

The MP was prompted to act by concern over recent cruelty cases in her constituency.

Last year two men received suspended jail sentences after a bulldog was headbutted, stamped on and picked up and thrown down the stairs repeatedly.

And earlier this month Michael Heathcock, 59, and Richard Finch, 60, both from Redcar, received jail sentences of four months each after they hammered a nail into a dog's head and buried it alive in a failed euthanasia attempt.

Ms Turley said the sentences did not fit the crime and she would continue her campaign after the Queen’s Speech.

She said: “I will be putting my name forward to get another chance and will queue up overnight again if needs be to get those tougher sentences.”