AN unemployed man who microwaved his favourite hamster to death was jailed for nine weeks today.

Anthony Parker, 29, of Holyrood Way in Hartlepool was banned from keeping animals for five years by magistrates in the town.

When police came to his home in the early hours of February 23, he admitted putting his pet in the cooker after a drunken row with his girlfriend.

The court heard he told officers: “I didn’t mean to kill her. She was the best hamster I ever had. She was called Suzie.”