Dogsey

TWO dead dogs were left to rot in a run-down house in South Tyneside.

David Rymell’s Staffordshire bull terriers were found under clothing and household items after they were left to decay for around a year.

Magistrates in South Tyneside heard that Rymell, 33, left the dogs with bones strewn across the floor of his South Shields home because he “could not face” going into the property.

Magistrates were told that, after the death of his 15-year-old dog, Bud, Rymell left the animal in the lounge and locked the other dog in the kitchen and abandoned his home, only returning to collect post.

After eight days Rymell’s other dog, Weiser, aged seven, was also found dead.
Denise Jackman, prosecuting, said vets could not determine a cause of death for either dog, and they had been left covered up by clothes and cushions.

Rymell, a scaffolder, now of Cornhill, Jarrow, admitted to two counts of failing to meet the needs of an animal, and was banned from keeping dogs for 15 years and fined £260.

... the dogs were found in June last year, when bailiffs forced their way into the home to repossess it after Rymell stopped paying rent.

RSPCA officers were called and found the dogs’ decomposed carcasses, and no sign of water, food or bowls.

Rymell told police he was so shocked at the death of Bud he could not put himself through going into the house every day.