A MAN jailed last year for throwing bleach into a teenage girl’s eye has been given a fresh prison warning after kicking a small dog with such force that the animal ‘lifted off the ground’.

George Gough, 52, says he kicked Jack Russell ‘Millie’ in her stomach because he felt her biting his ankle — but no evidence of any injury to the thug was produced to back up his claim.

Gough — who landed himself in the dock in 2016 after blindly hurling bleach from the street through a bedroom window — attacked the dog after losing his temper with her owner because she wasn’t leashed, Greenock Sheriff Court was told.

Prosecutor John Penman said: “The accused was shouting and swearing and two witnesses looked out and saw the accused kick the dog to its stomach, causing it to lift off the ground.

“He continued to shout and swear and police were called.”

Gough, of Cartsburn Street, pleaded guilty to conducting himself in a disorderly manner, shouting, swearing, banging on a door and kicking a dog on the body with force.

He committed the offence in John Street on September 24.

His not guilty plea to a charge of causing a protected animal unnecessary suffering by kicking a dog with such force it was raised in the air was accepted by the Crown.

Defence lawyer Joanna Mortimer said that her client’s conviction for the bleach offence would cause the court ‘some concern’.

Gough had been jailed for eight months after filling a plastic container with the caustic liquid and water before storming round to a flat on John Street.

He carried out the attack ‘without warning’ after his 16-year-old victim — who was in a bedroom with three of her friends — refused to close the window.

Fears over what the liquid may contain sparked an emergency call to paramedics after police had arrived to find the victim in pain with pronounced redness around her left eye, the court heard.

Turning to Gough’s latest offence, solicitor Ms Mortimer said: “He tells me he saw the complainer’s dog running around without a lead and not under proper control.

“He foolishly remonstrated with the complainer over the control of the dog and matters got out of hand on his part.
“It is a source of deep regret for him now.

“He says he felt the dog bite at his ankle and he lashed out.”

Sheriff Derek Hamilton fined Gough £450 and ordered him to pay at a rate of £30 per month.

The sheriff warned him: “In view of your record I will impose the alternative, so if you fail to make any one payment you will not come back to court and you will simply go to custody.”