Magistrates have banned a former couple from keeping animals for a total of 35 years after they admitted starving three kittens to death.

Neil Binner-Miller, 26, of no fixed address, and Helen Dootson-Sharman, 19, of Hart Street, Great Horton, Bradford, had also pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to two cats and a dog by failing to provide them with an adequate diet.

The pair also received supervision orders for a total of 400 hours’ unpaid community work and were told to pay £250 each towards the cost of the case.

The animals, which belonged to Dootson-Sharman, were found last June after an RSPCA officer forced her way into the couple’s former home in Beecroft Walk, Allerton, Bradford magistrates were told today.

Nigel Monaghan, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said Dootson-Sharman had left the flat three weeks before, leaving the animals with Binner-Miller, who moved away two weeks later.

Mr Monaghan described the flat as being in a “terrible state”, with rubbish and excrement present and an overpowering smell.

The kittens died during their first night in RSPCA care and a post-mortem examination showed the cause of their death to be malnutrition, the court heard.

A black cat, the mother of the kittens, had lost more than a third of her body weight while a tortoiseshell cat and the dog, a German shepherd, were about 20 per cent underweight.

Mr Monaghan added: “The long and short of it was that neither party looked after the animals and the reality of this case was that had it not been for a member of the public who contacted the RSPCA the animals would have been left to die. Indeed, the three kittens did die.”

Mitigating for Dootson-Sharman, solicitor Stuart Carter said his client had learning difficulties and had found it difficult to understand the seriousness of the case.

He added: “She has expressed remorse. In this specific case she has accepted that the responsibility was hers.”

Binner-Miller and Dootson-Sharman were banned from owning or being involved in the keeping of any animals for 15 years and 20 years respectively.

Binner-Miller was given an 18-month supervision order and Dootson-Sharman a 24-month supervision order.