A teenager has been caught on CCTV kicking and hitting a pigeon with a try as three laughing women cheered him on, in a “sickening act of violence”.

Reegan Smith, 18, carried out the attack on the defenseless bird in disturbing footage released by the RSPCA.

Smith, of Netherfield, Nottingham pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the pigeon on August 2 and was given a three-year ban on keeping animals and a four-month suspended prison sentence.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Rebecca Lowe said: “There is never an excuse for deliberately harming and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.”