A man has been banned from keeping equines for life after his horse died an 'agonising' death.

Simon Nall did not attend to his piebald colt horse named Storm for several months and pleaded guilty to failing to take reasonable steps to prevent another person from causing unnecessary suffering.

The court heard Storm was stabled with four other horses and had been dead for several days when he was found.

The horse appeared to have been dead for some days and there were signs to suggest that he had struggled in his last few days before he passed away. Andy Cash, prosecuting

A vet concluded it would have taken several months for Storm to get in that state.

Storm had been stabled with four other horses. Credit: RSPCA

The court was told that, in interview, Nall admitted he did not go and see Storm very often and could not remember the last time he saw him.

Nall’s solicitor John McGregor said in court that Nall believed his mother - who he did not live with - had been looking after Storm and so he did not attend to him regularly.

This is one of the worst cases of animal cruelty that this bench has seen. It was your responsibility to prevent this. Philip Hickson, chairman of Derby Magistrates

As well as a lifetime disqualification on keeping equines, the magistrates also imposed an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered him to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work, imposed a three-month curfew order and told him to pay costs of £400 and a £115 victim surcharge.