”As far as I know a court has never before sentenced anyone to such a long term in prison for cruelty to animals in Sweden before,” said prosecutor Jakob Holmberg to news agency TT.

The puppy was discovered by a pre-school class in March this year. While playing in a wooded area outside the school, the children found a black garbage bag, oozing blood.

Police later found a dead puppy in the bag and took it to a nearby animal hospital, where it was established that the little puppy had been badly beaten.

During the trial it became clear that the man had bought the nine-week-old puppy to be a companion for him when he moved to Stockholm, but that he soon started neglecting it.

He locked the dog in a cellar storage room and in the toilet. When it urinated and defecated on the floor he beat it, both with his hands an with its leash. He also allegedly hung it up by a hook.

The animal finally died after the man had put a plastic bag over its head and held a blanket around the body. According to the man, he was feeling upset and took his anger out on the puppy.

He now claims he misses the dog.

The prosecutor in September argued for the strongest possible punishment for the man, who admitted torturing the puppy to death.

”It was very sadistically done,” said Annika Oljeqvist of the south Stockholm police, to TV4 News at the time.

”If a human had been killed in a similar way the prosecutor would have demanded 18 years or life in prison.”

The court on Wednesday sentenced the man to 15 months imprisonment. The maximum penalty for cruelty to animals in Sweden is two years in prison.