Dog breeder let three greyhounds starve to death and stuffed one in his freezer

A dog breeder who let three greyhounds starve to death while he binged on drink and drugs is facing jail.

Clive Elliott, 40, kept eight in kennels at his sick mum’s house for racing but failed to properly care for any of them.

Officers from the police and RSPCA attended the property in Swindon on April 14 last year but found ‘no dog food whatsoever’ inside.

The city’s magistrates’ court heard the greyhounds were living in appalling conditions and suffering various health problems.

When interviewed Elliott blamed it all on the breakdown of a relationship and said he was ‘too proud’ to ask for help, it was claimed.

The registered greyhound breeder and trainer, from Swindon, was convicted of four counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal following a trial in his absence.

The greyhounds were kept at the home of his mother, who has dementia, and Elliott would visit to feed them.

But matters deteriorated in the period leading up to the officers’ visit.

Of the eight dogs found inside the house, three were dead and one of those had been wrapped in a bin liner and stuffed in the freezer, the court heard.

The five surviving animals had overgrown nails while some also had scurvy and abscesses.

Autopsies carried out on the dead dogs showed one whose bone marrow resembled a glutinous liquid, the result of poor nutrition.

The vet who examined them said it would have taken weeks – possibly months – to reach that stage.

Prosecutor Matthew Knight told the court an example of how undernourished they were was the fact that one of them gained 30 per cent more weight in the space of just a month.

He said: ‘The vet puts this purely down to providing the proper food.’

The court heard Elliott, who did not attend his trial after complaining of sciatica, said he was driven to drink and drugs following the end of a relationship.

He was said to have told officers his mother would have fed the dogs had there been any food.

Chairman of the bench Amanda Lee said: ‘We’ve read the facts, heard what you said and got the pictures.

‘We have also got the fact Mr Elliott himself recognised he had not visited for several days.’

Ms Lee issued a warrant for Elliott’s arrest.

He faces a possible prison sentence or a ban from keeping animals in the future.