Bed and breakfast owner keeps dozens of starving dogs in filthy, squalid conditions at his £4m home

A bed and breakfast owner kept dozens of starving dogs in filthy, squalid conditions at his £4m home. 27-year-old Robert McElhill had 33 puppies and dogs at the B&B in Holland Park in West London.

Most of the dogs were covered in scars and were found shut inside rooms in the private living quarters.

The floors were covered in faeces and urine, the windows were boarded up or blacked out and there was no bedding for the animals.

Other dogs were kept in kitchen areas and in stairways with no food or water. McElhill was convicted of animal cruelty at City of London Magistrates Court was ordered to pay £2,000 costs and carry out 200 hours community service.

In the basement police found a sandy coloured Lurcher and seven puppies.

The Lurcher was extremely underweight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones.

The puppies were in poor physical condition with faeces matted in their coats and showed poor physical care.