Judge cuts dog breeder’s lifetime ban

Rachel Mortimore, 57, admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals at a magistrates’ court hearing in July, relating to a dog and a cat which were among about 300 animals found in filthy conditions at Foxdown Dog Training Centre in Culmhead, Somerset, last November.

The dog was found with an infected abscess in its mouth that had been left untreated so long the infection had rotted a hole in the side of its face. The cat had an ulcer on its eye that would have “popped” the eye if left untreated.

At Taunton Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Michael Parroy QC said that the town’s magistrates had been right to ban her from keeping animals in “lamentable” conditions, but said their imposition of a lifetime ban was unduly harsh. She will be allowed to apply to have the ban lifted in nine years’ time.

Her lawyer argued that the poor condition the animals were found in was the result of illness and poor weather.