The Burton Mail has had an unprecedented response from readers to its coverage of an animal cruelty case in which a dog was starved to death by its owner.

The Mail published a censored picture of the animal’s skeletal remains on its front page, but the full image was printed on page three.

Nearly 200 letters flooded in to the Mail’s offices following the story and not one letter of complaint was received.

Editor Paul Hazeldine said: “From a letters point of view, we’ve had more on this one subject that any other in the history of the paper.

“We’ve had letters from some people saying they’ve been reduced to tears by the story and we are printing a special letters page with a selection of the best ones.

“It was a very graphic picture. In the court case it was described as the worst case of animal cruelty ever seen in Burton. We’re the local paper and so it was our duty to ensure the public was made aware.

“The picture was so graphic that my initial gut instinct was not to run it. We did a straw poll here asking people if they thought we should print the picture and only two people in the whole building said no.”

The dog’s owner, Susan Moore, was given a three month prison sentence by magistrates for locking the animal in a shed and leaving it to starve to death.

Mail reporter Tom Sloan said: “We’ve had a massive response and loads of letters. I think it’s the most shocking picture the Mail has ever published.

“It’s one of the best splashes the Mail has done while I’ve been here. If something like this needs to be shown, the Mail will stick its neck out.”