Woman given monkey ban

Ms Adams failed to take her pet monkey back to the vet

A mother-of-two who treated a monkey like one of the family has been banned from keeping primates by magistrates in Swansea.

Claire Adams, 25, said she would take Cheeko the marmoset out in her car and allow him to swing on a rope in her house.

But she was fined £150 and banned from keeping primates for five years after the court heard she failed to take him back to a vet when he became ill.

She was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering.

The court heard that Adams allowed Cheeko to swing on a rope inside her home in Townhill, fed him baby food and let him sleep on top of a cupboard in her living room.

A common marmoset, pictured in a zoo

She also took Cheeko out with her in the passenger seat of her Vauxhall Nova.

But when she suspected Cheeko was ill and took him to a local vet he bit through his glove.

Adams, from Townhill in the city, then failed to take him back to the vet.

She denied causing unnecessary suffering but was found guilty by Swansea magistrates.

Adams told the magistrates she had been looking after Cheeko for a friend and did not know a lot about monkeys.