Dog so neglected it was being eaten alive by maggots

A mother and son who neglected a dog which was eaten alive by maggots as it lay dying at their home have narrowly avoided being sent to jail.

Mary Gill, 81, and her son Terence, 48, inherited the black labrador cross after the death of her other son Brendan.

But they neglected the animal, named Rolly, so severely that its spine all but crumbled away.

When inspectors visited their home in Monsall, north Manchester, they were immediately hit with a ‘bad rotting smell’ and found the animal lying under a tarpaulin with a green discharge coming from its eye and making ‘gasping yelps’.

A sentencing hearing at Manchester magistrates’ court was told how RSPCA inspector Gilly Howard went to the family’s address on Lodge Street on October 10 last year to find the horror conditions. The dog was taken away for immediate emergency care but subsequently died.

Prosecutor David McCormick said the dog’s condition was so severe that vets were powerless to help.

In a report, vet Sean Taylor said that Rolly’s spine had degenerated due to neglect and was unable to walk or even stand. Flies also had started to attack him and maggots started to eat away at the dog’s flesh while he was alive, with Rolly powerless to move.

The dog was also covered in sores, contracted septicaemia and was severely dehydrated.

Mary Gill sobbed as the court heard that the dog belonged to her son Brendan who had recently died suddenly due to a heart condition.

Nnamdi Inegbu, defending, said that Mrs Gill had effectively inherited the dog, and that Terence did ‘not have a good relationship with the dog’ and that it was sometimes aggressive towards him.

Delivering sentence, the chair of the bench, Mr J Mason said:

He gave the pair a 24-week prison sentenced, cut to 16 weeks due to their guilty pleas, suspended for 18 months. They were both given a three-month curfew and banned from keeping animals for life, as well as both being ordered to pay costs of £300 with a surcharge of £80.