A PET owner has been sentenced for causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of dogs after they were found living in filth alongside the body of a former pet.

Nicole Jones of Kitchener Terrace, appeared before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, May 22.

She was disqualified from keeping animals for ten years after an RSPCA officer described the dogs’ condition as “as bad as it gets”.

She pleaded guilty to three offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 at a hearing on May 18.

RSPCA inspector Garry Palmer attended Jones’ home on January 12 this year.

He said: “I could see through the window that the conditions inside were awful with dog faeces and household rubbish littered throughout.

“There was a young tan and white crossbreed curled up on the floor dead next to a chewed-up Pot Noodle pot.

“Two surviving dogs, a young male Rottweiler called Bronson and a grey long-haired lurcher called Gypsy, were both obviously very underweight. Gypsy was laid out on a settee and appeared very weak and listless. She barely moved when I knocked on the window.

“When we got inside we found a tub of fence paint in the house had been knocked over revealing paw prints on top of the worktops and even inside the empty fridge.

“It was a very upsetting scene.”

Jones was sentenced to 12 weeks’ in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered to undertake a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

She was also ordered to pay £400 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.

The surviving dogs were immediately taken to a veterinary surgery for urgent treatment.

Mr Palmer said as soon as Gypsy was offered food and water she ate and drank immediately.

She continued to eat well and gained 45 percent of her original body weight in less than three weeks.

Bronson was unable to make a recovery and put to sleep on veterinary advice.

Inspector Palmer described the dead dog in the house as the most underweight dog he had ever encountered whilst being employed with the RSPCA.

He said: “In my opinion this is as bad as it gets – depriving animals of their basic needs of food and water and as a consequence one dog paid the ultimate price.”