A mother and her partner have been banned from keeping animals for three years and ordered to pay £2,500 in fines and costs after being found guilty of neglecting their boxer dogs.

Lisa Churchill, aged 29, and Daniel Flemings, 31, of Bassett Road, Wednesbury, had denied three separate charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal but were convicted at trial yesterday.

They were charged after their two dogs were found to be seriously underweight, infested with mites, and housed in a cramped kennel.

The RSPCA’s Inspector Pamela O’Neill told magistrates in West Bromwich that she had visited their home on the Friar Park estate in March, and had been concerned by the state of four-year-old Naz and nine-year-old Tyler.

She said both animals were so emaciated that their ribs were clearly visible, and that they were suffering from protruding growths near their tails.

Miss O’Neill added that the back garden was littered with rubbish and dog faeces. The dogs were seized and inspected by a vet.

Mother-of-four Churchill told the court that she had been on antidepressants since the dogs were taken away. “I don’t think I caused them unnecessary suffering,” she said. 

“I fed them, I loved them, they were my life.”

Magistrates banned Churchill and Flemings from keeping pets for three years and also fined them a joint total of £500, with £2,000 in total costs.

The RSPCA will rehome the dogs.