A West Sussex family have been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to their pets after they were discovered living in piles of rotting rubbish and excrement.

The court heard that four dogs, four cats, a kitten and a parrot were discovered living in poor conditions, at the Shoreham home of Sheila Hocking, when the RSPCA and police executed a search warrant issued by magistrates.

Mrs Hocking, 64, her daughter Rosetta Hocking, 25, and son Richard Hocking, 29, denied 29 charges of animal cruelty brought against each of them by the RSPCA.

But after a trial at Worthing magistrates court, district judge Roger Ede found them guilty of the charges apart from two, that of causing unnecessary suffering to a cat and an Amazonian parrot.

The charges – which were the same for each defendant, all of New Road – dated from between July 1 and August 1 last year. They included causing unnecessary suffering to a Spaniel, two Jack Russell terrier puppies, an Amazonian parrot, a Border Collie, four cats and a kitten and keeping the animals in an unsuitable environment.

They were each given a two-year conditional discharge and banned from keeping animals for four years.

Judge Ede told the Hockings: "No doubt you love your animals but you have neither the financial, physical or mental resources to look after them. The disqualification is not to punish you but to protect animals from you."
(Worthing Herald)