A man has been banned from keeping animals for life after a Court heard that he caused unnecessary suffering to four dogs.

John James Wilson, 34, formerly of Bradford but now of Brooklands Close, Seacroft, Leeds, was also ordered to do 140 hours community service and pay £150 costs.

His girlfriend Julie Glister, 24, also of Brooklands Close, Seacroft, was put on probation for a year, banned from keeping animals for ten years and ordered to pay £150 costs.

Both had been convicted in their absence six weeks ago of four charges of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog by failing to provide it with proper care and attention.

Robin Irvine, prosecuting, told Bradford magistrates that police went to a house in Langley Avenue, Bierley, last June and saw the fenced-off back garden was covered in dog excrement.

There were three lurcher-type dogs with open sores and large patches of hair missing. The animals were thin and their ribs were showing.

Veterinary examination showed they had mites and were in generally poor condition, said Mr Irvine.

Both defendants were interviewed and Wilson insisted that he had been treating the dogs with benzyl benzoate which he had bought from a chemist.

Two months later, police and an RSPCA inspector visited the house again and saw another lurcher-type dog which was in a similar poor condition.

Nick Leadbeater, mitigating, said a vet had confirmed that benzyl benzoate was an appropriate, if not particularly modern treatment for the dogs' complaint.

"They had taken the dogs off their owners in poor condition and Mr Wilson had set about treating them himself," he said.

Mr Leadbeater said both defendants would appeal against their conviction at the Crown Court.

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