On Wednesday, Christopher Robert Cash Davidson (aka Lumsden), pleaded guilty to intentionally killing a wild bird on July 29, 2007, after being dared by his friends to do it while drunk.

The incident, where he bit off the head of a feral pigeon, was filmed on a mobile and sent to Davidson's phone, where it was stored in the memory under the title 'pigon it'.

Prosecutor Claire Paczko told the South East Northumberland Magitrates' Court the charge speaks for itself.

"On August 12, 2007, this defendant was arrested for an unrelated matter and as part of that investigation his mobile phone was taken.

"The footage was found stored in the memory from July 29 at 2.02am entitled 'pigon it'."

The court room was then shown the video footage, which lasted about 15 seconds, where the defendant can be seen putting the head of the bird in his mouth and while gripping with the use of both hands, biting it off.

He then spat the head of the bird out of his mouth and was seen throwing the carcass into the ground where it shook uncontrollably for a few seconds.

Ms Paczko said laughing could be heard in the background of the footage.

The court heard how Davidson, from Fifth Avenue in Stobhill, said he was an animal lover and had relatives who kept racing pigeons.

Defending the 18-year-old, Graham Crouth said: "This is an unusual offence and he has made it clear that he was responsible for that act and accepts the wrong doing.

"He had been out with his friends in Morpeth and he and his friends were playing dares and he was dared to do that act.

"When he saw what he had done when he was sober he was physically sick.

"He is utterly ashamed of his behaviour, the rather foolish behaviour young lads do while drunk."

Magistrates told Davidson that they had considered custody as a sentence.

They said: "For this type of offence we have no normal starting point, all our options are open and we have considered custody.

"You committed it intentionally and if any sane person had witnessed that stupid act they would have been horrified, it was a barbarous act of cruelty."

The case was adjourned until March 17 for pre-sentence reports.