A ROSS-on-Wye man escaped jail despite drinking four live fish in a cocktail of wine and spirits.

Paul Wooding, aged 33, received a conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £515 in costs by Hereford magistrates.

Wooding, of Brampton Avenue was filmed taking part in a neknomination challenge, a craze which was popular earlier this year where participants try and out-do each other in drinking dares which are then posted online.

The video shows Wooding mixing white wine, gin, rum and lemonade, before adding what he described as his "special little treats" – four live minnows. He had collected them from a friend earlier.

He then said: "It ain't big it ain't clever", before showing a close up of the fish swimming in the glass and then downing the concoction.

Two charges were brought under the Animal Welfare Act after the footage was reported to the RSPCA.

But after he was reported to the RSPCA, Wooding posted a comment on a social media site, stating his disgust at those people who had reported him. He said: "Some people's lives must be that sad and boring to get any excitement they had to report me to the RSPCA."

The father-of-three maintained throughout the case that he was not aware that what he had done was a crime.

He was found guilty of two offences: causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, and failing to ensure the welfare of an animal of which he was responsible for.

A vet who saw the footage said the fish would have suffered as a result of being immersed in alcohol and swallowed alive.

RSPCA Inspector Mark Lewis said: "There was a deliberate decision to take these fish and swallow them as part of this irresponsible game.

"The fish suffered unnecessarily and it is simply not acceptable to treat an animal in this way purely for amusement."