Springer spaniel Becks was almost 5kg underweight when neighbours alerted police, who handed him to RSPCA inspectors.

South Tyneside Magistrates' Court heard the seven-year-old dog had been left for at least four days in the back garden of a property in Moor Lane, Whitburn, last July.

Becks's owner, Martin Smith was found guilty of neglect under the animal welfare act after the case was proved in his absence this week.

The court heard how RSPCA chiefs were first alerted to the dog's plight by neighbours on July 19.

When inspector Emma Ellis arrived at the property she found the dog in the back garden.

She told magistrates how she then taped up access points and left a note for the animal's owner.

But the next day those seals had not been broken, showing nobody had gone to see the dog.

Miss Ellis told the court: "I again managed to gain access to the rear of the property and leave food and water for the dog."

She told magistrates how the dog was checked on by a neighbour the following day and by a colleague on July 22. Insp Ellis returned on July 23 to find the seals still intact.

Police were contacted and the dog was seized by officers and handed to the RSPCA.

Vet Kirsty Horseford who examined Becks, told the court how the animal was underweight and very thin.

Clive McKeag, prosecuting, said Smith, 44, told RSPCA officers he had only intended leaving the dog overnight but had become ill while away.

He had tried to contact his mother but had been leaving wrong messages.

Mr McKeag added: "This is an animal who had been left to fend for itself and would, if it was not for the intervention of the RSPCA, have dehydrated or starved to death."

Smith was not in court to hear magistrates deliver a guilty verdict.

Sentencing was adjourned.