Lifetime ban for woman with 63 dogs and 25 cats

Wendy Hutcheson, 58, of Inverness, kept animals in squalid conditions at Audenshaw Dogs and Cats Home near Manchester, which she owned and ran, magistrates were told.

Hutcheson was runner-up in the yearling bitch category at Crufts in 2007 with an American cocker spaniel.

The RSPCA seized 63 dogs, 25 cats, two rabbits and two birds, and more than a third of the dogs needed to be sedated to be "de-matted". In one case the matting accounted for more than a quarter of the dog's original weight. Each dog took two veterinary nurses an average of three hours to de-mat.

Most of the cats had ear mites and fleas, and two had feline Aids, said the RSPCA.

Hutcheson, of Laurel Avenue, was found guilty in her absence at Tameside Magistrates' Court earlier this week and appeared in court yesterday following her arrest in Scotland.

She walked free from court as magistrates imposed a conditional discharge for the numerous counts of causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of her animals, the RSPCA said.

RSPCA inspector Vicki McDonald said: "I've never seen as many animals living in such horrendous conditions in all my time working for the RSPCA. I hope the sentence will ensure no further animals suffer because of Ms Hutcheson."