A man has been jailed for kicking and trampling a gull to death in the Welsh town of Tonypandy.

Andrew Lee Jones, 38, who is from the town, has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and fined £112 for the incident which took place on the 1 May this year.

Jones was seen kicking the lesser black-backed gull by a driver who then went back and found it had been killed.

The attack on the bird, which was believed to already have been injured, was also captured on CCTV and led the RSPCA to make an appeal to the public to identify the perpetrator.

At Merthyr Magistrates Court, Jones admitted he had intentionally killed the bird and pleaded guilty to one offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

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RSPCA inspector Simon Evans described the attack as “horrific”.

He said: “A witness in a car saw Jones kick the gull and then sadly found the bird dead when they were able to get back to the location.

“We’d very much like to thank them for their evidence and help in this case.

“This horrific incident was also caught on CCTV where the defendant was seen kicking the bird and using his foot to direct it into a corner of the car park.

“The bird had sustained other injuries before this attack – however a post mortem examination found that it would have been the blunt trauma injuries – from the defendant’s kick that would have been the most likely cause of death.”

The lesser black-backed gull is a common sight around the UK coastline (Getty ) (Getty)

He added: “There is no excuse for this kind of deliberate cruelty.”

Lesser black-backed gulls are around the same size as herring gulls, and adults have a wingspan of up to 150cm (4 ft 11 in). They are opportunistic feeders and often depend on scavenging food.

The gulls’ adaptability and the abundance of food waste from humans is believed to have helped some species thrive in urban areas where they are now sometimes regarded as a pest.