A vengeful mother-of-three has been jailed for 168 days after being convicted of killing a neighbour's kitten by putting it in the microwave. Gina Robins, 31, killed the 10-week-old kitten after falling out with its owner, magistrates in Torbay, Devon, were told. Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years. The prosecutor said: "This was a very bad case, disgusting. It was an act of revenge against Ms Knutton."

The court was told Robins had asked if she could use the oven to heat some baby food for her child. Knutton heard a loud popping noise "like a crisp packet being popped" coming from the kitchen followed by a "screeching" noise. When she saw what had happened to the kitten she was sick in the sink.

Before the incident Robins had fallen out with Knutton, 30. Knutton had made a complaint over Robins' boyfriend.

After the kitten had died, Robins sent a text message to Knutton saying: "Remember the saying: 'What goes around comes around?' It has started already to bite you in the arse. The cat? Karma."

Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."

He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.

Robins, of Torquay, had denied a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. She claimed the microwave was accidentally turned on by one of the cats after the kitten got inside. But Knutton said the kitten was too small to even get onto the work surface.

Colin Cameron, a vet who examined the dead animal, said there was "no doubt the kitten would have suffered unnecessarily" before dying.

Following the sentencing, Knutton said: "What sort of person does something so cold and calculating? I did not expect her to go to jail for it. I am just glad it is now all over."