A MAN broke down in tears after admitting causing suffering to a cat which he put in a tumble dryer THREE times.

Allan Staughton uploaded a film named “You must see this - it will crack you up” to online video site Youtube of him picking up his former girlfriend’s cat Princess, asking her if she would like to see ‘Mr Tumbles’.

The video showed Staughton throwing Princess into the tumble dryer in his former home in Roman Gate, Godmanchester, and sticking it on for 12 seconds. When the 23-year-old opened the door to the appliance, the tabby cat was lying motionless and upside down.

Staughton then turns the machine on again briefly, before turning it on again for longer. The video has since been removed from Youtube.

The RSPCA tracked down Allan Staughton outside a pub in Godmanchester after The Hunts Post reported the incident when a concerned person contacted us.

Robert Starr, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, told Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday) that the cat suffered a broken tooth and damage to its tongue and lip in the incident on June 14.

He said: “The cat would have been very terrified and would have suffered mental and physical effects caused by the cat having no method of escape.

“The reason why Princess didn’t move when the door was opened is because the incident would have left the cat in sheer terror, unbalanced and disorientated. It left the cat without any of its senses that you would attribute to a cat.”

He added that Princess was taken to see a vet on July 6, who said she rejected to being handled although she improved a week later.

The court heard that because of the incident, Staughton’s partner of four and a half years, who he has a two and a half-year-old child with, broke up with him, and Princess was taken to Wood Green Animal Shelter, in Godmanchester, where she was later re-homed.

Kevin Warboys, in mitigation said: “Mr Staughton suffers from conduct disorder which he says means ‘I just do things without thinking’.

“The idea arose from the cat often getting into the tumble dryer after it has been used, which my client believes is because it is warm.”

Staughton, who now lives in Saunders Close, Huntingdon, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and will be sentenced on November 13.

Mr Starr applied to the court that Staughton be banned from keeping any animals in the future.