Sunderland, UK - A man who admitted carrying out a sex act while looking at animal porn and while holding a baby seagull that he had captured has been jailed for 24 weeks in Britain.

David Lee from Sunderland in north-east England, appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, where he had admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the herring gull at a previous hearing.

The incident happened in Sunderland at about 1 AM on August 18 last year.

Magistrates handed him an immediate 24-week jail term and banned him from keeping animals for 10 years.

Lesley Burgess, prosecuting, said: "This was a deliberate and gratuitous act that caused suffering."

Describing the incident, which was caught on a local resident's CCTV, she said the 40-year-old first tried to chase a seagull down the street, then returned with a baby gull.

Lee went on to take out his phone, searched for animal porn, and began masturbating.

"He then goes on to move the gull between his legs," Burgess said. "For a time the defendant is engaging in a sexual act with the baby."

When he had finished, Lee put the gull down, gave it a "small kick" to shoo it away and walked off in the opposite direction.

Lee's defense lawyer, Annalisa Moscardini, said he was a heavy drinker who experienced blackouts.

"He accepts he must have done this act but he didn't have a good recollection of it," she said in explanation of his initial denials.

"To some extent he cannot explain what happened."

A psychiatric report found he suffered from an unstable personality disorder and was detached from reality. He was also a pathological liar whose lies served no purpose, the court heard.

Anna Malia, of North East Animal Rights, attended court and, after the hearing, she said herring gulls were increasingly rare and have additional protection.

"Because of the sexual nature of this crime, it has received significant attention in the local press with many jokes being made about it," she said.

"But it is not funny or a subject to be joked about or mocked."