A Crufts-winning mother and daughter have been sentenced for “appalling and shocking” neglect after a total of 104 dogs were found at a Bradford house.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the animals were kept in cramped and squalid conditions – some in cages – at the home of showing champions Violet and Shareem Humes.

Of the 89 dogs seized, 24 had to be destroyed in what was the biggest animal welfare case faced by Bradford Council.

Council officers teamed with police, a vet and the RSPCA to raid the house in Pine Street on February 3 and 4 last year when a search warrant was executed by Terry Singh, the Council’s dog animal services manager.

Jonathan Lally, prosecuting for the Council, said the sheer number of dogs that needed to be re-housed was the only reason why some had to be left at the dirty and foul-smelling terrace house.

He told the court that conditions at the house were “appalling and shocking”.

Yesterday Violet Humes, 71, and Shareem Humes, 45, pleaded guilty to 23 animal welfare offences.

They included ten charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog, 12 of failing to take steps to meet the needs of an animal and one of keeping a breeding establishment for dogs without a licence.

The women had already admitted five charges under the Veterinary Medicine Regulations.

Mr Lally said unauthorised drugs found at the house included Oxytocin, a hormone used to stimulate uterine contractions. A vet stated that the amount seized represented a 20-year supply for his small animal practice. Other drugs found included Parovax, a pig vaccine not marketed in the UK.

Mr Lally said the house was “extremely unhygienic” with dog faeces throughout.

The defendants’ barrister, Emma Downing, said they were highly regarded national champions and the court case had shocked the dog-showing community.

They were each allowed to keep five dogs and they wanted three back from the Council, including Zorro, valued at £5,000.

Miss Dowing said: “This isn’t a case of actual cruelty. It is about the sheer number of dogs.”

But Judge Jonathan Durham Hall refused to allow the dogs to be returned, saying it would be a “ludicrous result of wrongdoing”.

They were each sentenced to a three-year community order and a three-year conditional discharge and barred from keeping more than five dogs each.

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