A YORK man has been fined after buying his new bride a puppy from a beggar.

Ian Cullen, 29, of Allan Close, Tang Hall, was ordered to pay £50 after pleading guilty to receiving the black-and-tan cross between June 13 and 30.

Rosemary Ainslie, prosecuting, told York Magistrates yesterday that the pup had been stolen from the RSPCA in York.

She was microchipped, which confirmed her identity when Cullen was arrested with the animal outside Kwik Save on Hull Road.

Craig Robertson, mitigating, argued that it was simply an offence of "over-exuberance" in trying to buy a dog.

"He purchased the dog from a beggar. The dog was in good health. My client and his wife had been to the RSPCA and asked if they would be allowed to own a dog. They were told, because of the way they were living, they couldn't."

The court heard the couple had not had a property for some time before being allocated a council house.

"He purchased the dog off someone on the street for £10 or £15. He didn't know it was from the RSPCA."

Mr Robertson said Cullen even took the dog with him to the police station when answering a separate charge of theft.

Outside court, Ian Cullen, who also has to pay £50 court costs, told the Evening Press he had hoped to save the pup from a life on the street.

"Beggars just want the dogs to sit there to get money for their drugs," he said.

Mrs Cullen, who is pregnant, said she was "very disappointed" at losing her four-month old pup Tikka which she had hoped would grow up with her baby.

Vowing to get another dog, she said: "Tikka was in very good health. I even trained her - I used to work at the RSPCA when I was 15 so I am used to handling dogs.

"Ian came home with her as a present. I was overwhelmed. When we lost her I was in tears; in shock."

Ian and Donna Cullen, both 29, deny stealing a £600 Sony digital camera from the Give the Dog a Bone shop, Fossgate, York, on June 12. The hearing was adjourned until September 20 for a pre-trial review.

Updated: 10:37 Thursday, August 05, 2004