Screenwriter faces jail after punching poodle in the face

A former American screenwriter allegedly punched his pet poodle in the face so hard that it died from brain injury.

Ted Shuttleworth, 51, who has previously worked with Steven Spielberg and written for television police drama 'NYPD Blue', was arrested at his New York home on Saturday.

Following the incident Shuttleworth took the five-year-old pooch - named Lola - to a vet in the Queens area, where she died on May 29.

It is not yet understood why the 51-year-old had became so enraged that he assaulted his pet, but his wife, Isadora Monk Shuttleworth, who spoke to the New York Post, told reporters that Lola’s death was a “horrible accident”.

Joseph Pentangelo, a spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who gave the dog an autopsy, told the paper: “Lola sustained a traumatic brain injury secondary to the application of blunt force to the right side of her head at the hands of the suspect, her owner.”

Shuttleworth now charges $300 (£191) to read scripts and works at New York University as an administrative assistant.