A woman who admitted starving two puppies to death has been warned by Bradford magistrates she may face jail.

Tiffany Starkey, 24, pleaded guilty to five charges of animal cruelty including failing to provide food and water to the two six-month-old terriers at yesterday’s hearing.

Miss Starkey, who now lives at a hostel in Huddersfield, also admitted to failing to provide suitable living conditions and an adequate diet to a corn snake and a Siberian Husky.

The animals were found by an RSPCA inspector and a police officer, who forced their way into her former home in Greyfriar Walk, Horton Bank Top in May last year.

Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting on behalf of the charity, said the puppies were found dead in a training cage, “covered in urine and faeces and totally emaciated”.

A vet estimated they had not been fed for a number of weeks and tests carried out on the puppies found there to be no other cause for their deaths, he told the court.

The snake and husky, which are now being looked after by the RSPCA, were found without food and water in a kitchen “covered in litter and faeces”, measuring just 2m by 2m, Mr Monaghan said.

The snake had no light source and was being kept in a cage too small for its needs, the court heard.

Miss Starkey told the RSPCA she left the property to live with her boyfriend at the end of May, Mr Monaghan said.

But a statement from her boyfriend said she had moved two to three months before the animals were found, returning every few days to feed them.

Mr Monaghan said: “She showed little or no remorse in the interviews and throughout said a third party had agreed to become responsible for these animals.”

But the defendant would give no details of the third party and a neighbour said she had seen no-one else at the property, he added.

Representing Miss Starkey, solicitor Damian Walsh, said the case should be adjourned for sentencing so a psychological report into his client’s circumstances could be taken into consideration.

Bench chairman Gillian Palmer adjourned the case until March 15 for a pre-sentence report. She said all options including custody would be considered.