Tobias Thomas, 28, of Walsall in the West Midlands, was fined �50 and ordered to pay �300 costs after he admitted causing unnecessary suffering.

He was banned from keeping animals for five years after magistrates heard he put the cat in the freezer to stop it fighting with another cat.

The cat was unharmed but an RSPCA spokesman said his actions were cruel.

'Extreme cruelty'

Insp Simon Davies said: "It is idiotic of anyone to think it is acceptable behaviour to treat an animal in such a way.

"If Mr Thomas had a problem with a new cat fighting his other cat, then he should have sought advice on how to deal with this problem.

"Shutting an animal in a freezer is cruelty in the extreme and I am pleased Mr Thomas has now been banned from keeping animals for five years."

Police discovered the cat in the freezer when they called at Thomas's flat, in Wednesbury Road, about an unrelated matter.