Horrified RSPCA officers discovered painful, bleeding cracks on German Shepherd Becky's body, as well as several lumps of skin hanging off her.

Her owners Paula (41) and John (51) Day, of Eastbourne Road, Chatteris, had left her chained to an outside kennel, causing her to develop a severe skin condition and lose hair from across her body.

They had also failed to get her treated for an eye infection and ear problems and had let her claws grow overly long.

At Wisbech Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, as well as banning them from keeping animals for life, a district judge gave them each an eight-week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months, ordered them to do 200 hours of unpaid work each and told to pay £600 costs between them.

The pair had previously pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering by failing to provide veterinary treatment for Becky, a black and tan coloured dog, in October last year.

The six-year-old pooch's condition was so bad that the examining vet advised that she be put down to prevent further suffering. The vet said Becky had been suffering for at least four months.

In sentencing, District Judge John Sheraton said this was one of the most serious cases of neglect of a dog he had seen in his career. He also said the owners had turned a blind eye to their dog's suffering.

Speaking after the court hearing, RSPCA inspector Jon Knight said: "Neglecting an animal can cause them to suffer every bit as much as if they are deliberately cruelly-treated.

"We are therefore very pleased that this case was taken so seriously by the court and hope that this sentence sends out a clear message to other owners to provide an adequate standard of care for their pets."

The Days are not the only people from the area to be banned from keeping animals. In March last year, Aaron Hall (26) and Samantha Parker (23), of Dingley Court, Westwood, Peterborough, were banned from keeping animals for three years after pleading guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.

Their Great Dane and Alsatian crossbreed, Rebel, was discovered emaciated to the point of starvation.

In September, Jennifer Hall (29) of School Close, Bretton, Peterborough, was banned from keeping animals after two of her tiny pups died after she left them while she went away on holiday.

And in December 2006, mother and daughter Peggy and Eve Hunt, of Fengate Close, Peterborough, were banned from keeping animals for life for a second time after RSCPA inspectors found dogs and cats living in cramped and dirty conditions.