A teenager has been banned from drinking alcohol after setting fire to a sheep.

Kieran Taylor, 18, was given a court order and told to obey a curfew after killing a sheep by kicking, stabbing and then setting it on fire.

The arson was a schoolboy attempt to destroy the evidence but in the circumstances it made matters even worse. Ian Morley, Defence Lawyer

Kieran Taylor, from Tilgate, West Sussex was ordered to attend behaviour therapy after also pleading guilty to taking part in sexual activity with three girls up to three years younger than him.

Judge David Rennie spared Taylor jail.

You have been lucky because you did a bad thing and nobody would argue if I had sent you down to the cells. I am giving you the chance to get the help you need. You have to be careful, though, because if you breach this sentence I will send you to prison and it would be a miserable experience for you. David Rennie, Judge

Taylor was sentenced Taylor to 11 months in prison, suspended for two years, for the underage sex offences and a further four months for the animal cruelty.