John Llewellyn Jones killed the seagull after it knocked chips out of his hand. Picture: RSPCA/PA Wire

John Llewellyn Jones, of Bishopston Road, Cardiff, killed the bird while on a day trip to Weston-super-Mare on July 17, 2018.

The lesser black backed gull flew around the defendant trying to reach his chips, and subsequently knocked his snack from his hand.

The 64-year-old’s reaction ‘shocked by-standers, including children’ with witnesses watching him catch the gull by the leg and smash the animal into a wall, killing it.

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John Llewellyn Jones killed the seagull after it knocked chips out of his hand. Picture: RSPCA/PA Wire

Jones was found guilty of a Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 offence at North Somerset Magistrates' Court in Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge but magistrates listened to two witnesses, and said their accounts were 'credible and compelling’, before finding the man guilty of the offence.

He was sentenced to a 12-week curfew, applicable between the hours of 8pm and 8am, which began immediately.

The gull who was killed by Jones. Picture: RSPCA/PA Wire

Jones was also ordered to pay £750 in costs, and a £85 victim surcharge.

Gulls are protected under section 1 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 - and by killing the wild bird he had committed an offence in breach of the act.

RSPCA Cymru say the man showed ‘blatant disregard for animal welfare’ and ‘cared more for his chips than what his actions did to the poor gull’.

Simon Evans, RSPCA inspector, said: ‘This was an unthinkable and despicable way to treat an animal - with this gull smashed against a wall by the man, solely because it knocked chips from his hand.

‘This was deliberate cruelty, borne from the fact that this man cared more for his chips than what his actions did to the poor gull.

‘Simply, the man showed blatant disregard for an animal because he was annoyed about his chips.