A HEARTLESS mum who left six dogs to starve to death in their own filth has avoided jail.
Victoria Fowles left the chihuahua-type dogs to fend for themselves when she moved out of her former home in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
An estate manager who visited the house found it in an “atrocious condition with dog mess throughout the ground floor and an awful smell”.
The manager discovered three of the tragic dogs in a basket in the rear dining room of the property.
RSPCA inspector Ben Kirby later attended with the manager and found the bodies of the dogs in the basket had been moved.
When they checked the shed in the back garden, they found them in a bag along with three more decomposed bodies.
Fowles admitted causing unnecessary suffering to her dogs at an earlier hearing, and offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
The charge stated that she had failed to provide proper and necessary care and supervision to protect them between February 10, 2025, and April 4 last year.
Fowles avoided a jail term and was instead handed a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years.
She was also disqualified from keeping all animals for life, or until further order, and ordered to pay costs of £300, and a victim surcharge of £187.
Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court was told Inspector Kirby contacted Suffolk Police in order to seize the bodies of the dogs for evidence purposes.
An expert vet said in their report the dogs were found in various stages of decomposition, and all were estimated to have a body condition score of just one out of nine.
The vet concluded that lack of food and water significantly contributed to the dogs’ suffering – leading to their death.
Their suffering included starvation and dehydration, psychological distress, deprivation of human companionship and overgrown nails.
They were left in agony for a minimum of several weeks over “a protracted period of time”, it was said.
Inspector Kirby of the RSPCA said after the case: “It is heartbreaking to think that these poor dogs were just abandoned and left to suffer what would have been a harrowing death and that their deaths were completely unnecessary and avoidable.”
