A man described as a key player in a major dog-fighting scene has been sentenced to four months in jail and banned from keeping dogs for life. (BBC)

Barkat Hussain, 44, from Unett Street, Smethwick, West Midlands, trained pit-bull terriers for fighting and kept related medical supplies.

He admitted keeping and training pit-bulls dogs in breach of a court order.

He had previously been jailed and banned from keeping dogs, following involvement in a mass dog fight.

District Judge Mark Layton said Hussain had shown a blatant disregard for court orders and liked training animals to fight.

Judge Layton added: "The pleasure you obtain comes from seeing the dogs inflict injuries on other dogs."

A raid on the premises in Dudley Road, Winson Green, where Hussain worked as a barber uncovered treadmills used for building dogs' muscles.

Medical kits including skin staplers, syringes, and a solution used by vets to euthanise  dogs were also discovered.

Two of the dogs in Hussain's possession, called Tiger and Ace, were kept in cages while another, Storm, was found tethered to an upstairs balcony with 59 separate wounds.

Speaking after the hearing, Ch Insp Ian Briggs from the RSPCA's Special Operations Unit, which brought the prosecution, said the sentence was "a great result".

Mr Briggs added: "Despite what he said about how much he loves his dogs, he never stopped doing it.

"We do believe he was a key player in the dog-fighting scene in Birmingham."