Bradford Mother and Son Starve Dogs to Death in Attic

A cruel mother and son have been jailed for 16 weeks for locking their pet dogs in an attic and leaving them to die.

Julie and Jamie Taylor ignored the heartrending cries of the dogs, a rottweiler and a Staffordshire bull terrier, who suffered weeks of hunger and thirst before dying.

Police broke into the house in Bradford to find an "overpowering stench" of rotting flesh and a pair of maggot-infested dog corpses in the attic.

Jamie Taylor, 31 and his mother Julie, 50, said they were too embarrassed to walk the dogs because they were skinny.

The pair were jailed by Bradford magistrates and banned for life from keeping animals.

Chairman of the bench, Harry Atkinson, said: "The dogs experienced horrendous suffering before their death. The dogs were prisoners upstairs in the house and they died from prolonged neglect.

"They had no access to the rest of the house, nor to the outside world.

"Mr Taylor said he would be embarrassed to take his dogs outside because they were too skinny to be seen out walking."

The defendants pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to animals and failing to keep them in a suitable environment.

Prosecuting, Nigel Monaghan, told the court: "It is difficult to think of a worse case of animal cruelty than this.

"A board of slats was nailed in place to stop the dogs, which were in the attic, from getting out and going down the stairs."