A CAMPAIGN for two brothers who subjected their bulldog to horrific abuse to be jailed, took to the skies above a football stadium at the weekend.

A plane flew over the sell-out crowd watching Middlesbrough's game against Ipswich at the Riverside on Saturday, towing a huge banner reading "Jail the Frankish brothers".

Andrew and Daniel Frankish, from Redcar, were given suspended sentences at Hartlepool Magistrates Court last month after admitting videoing themselves laughing as they threw their bulldog, named Baby, down the stairs, and stamped on her.

A petition was set up to have their sentence increased, attracting half a million signatures from an outraged public, and a Facebook page named Operation Frankish set up.

Those behind the page claimed responsibility for the plane stunt, both before and after the game on Saturday, and pledged to continue their "psychological warfare" against the Frankish brothers.

A post on the page read: "Together with the message on the banner there was an underlying message which should serve as a sobering thought for the Frankish brothers - we do mean business.

"They should know that on this occasion they are not dealing with a passive little bulldog but with grown men."

In another post it said: "Operation Frankish are a publicly backed group who will do whatever it takes within the boundaries of the law to make this case a turning point in the legal system."

It said of the plane stunt: "This is a high-visibility protest and not a threat of any kind.

"This is only the first of a series of methods we will deploy. It will not be the last."