RSPCA inspector's horror as he finds rotting corpses of eight puppies in family home: Dogs were locked in kitchen, starved and tried to eat each other to survive

Sam Hessin and her two children Damon and Hazel left the dogs to starve



They were handed suspended sentences after admitting causing suffering

The puppies were no older than six months old according to a vet



Eight puppies were forced to eat each other to try to survive after their owners locked them in a kitchen where they starved to death.

Despite the appalling case of animal cruelty Sam Hessin, 39, and her two children, Damon, 22, and Hazel, 18, were spared jail.



Pictures released by the RSPCA show the dogs' rotting remains in the house in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, lying in their own faeces.



The Hessin family barricaded the eight pets - which were around six months old - into the downstairs room because they were biting them and did not know what else to do.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

The family left the animals, which were around six-months-old, to starve to death in a downstairs room in their home

Damon Hessin (left) and his sister Hazel (right) have been banned from keeping animals for life after they let eight puppies starve to death Prosecutor Kevin McCole said: 'The smell was almost unbearable, with dog faeces several inches thick. It was likely the place had not been cleaned for months or even years. 'It was clear the puppies had suffered and would have been obvious they were unwell and needed help.' He added: 'The life of some might have been extended by eating the others.' Neighbours described being able to hear the dogs howling at night and hit out at the sentences they were handed. Sam Hessin was given an 18 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, when she appeared at court last month One said: 'That family should be in jail now, not allowed to swan about like nothing happened. 'It's just awful how they put those poor dogs through such torture. People often heard the animals crying in the evenings but no one believed it was because they were dying. 'A friend of mine saw the RSPCA officers come out of the house when they raided it and there were grown men in tears at the state of the place. Their sentence was soft. They got away with it.'

Damon and Hazel have both been banned from keeping animals for life after admitting causing suffering to the eight dogs. They were both given suspended sentences at Leicester Magistrates' Court. Sam Hessin, 40, banned her two children from going into the kitchen and they used the living room to cook their meals. She was given an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and told to pay an £80 victim surcharge at a court appearance last month. She was also banned from keeping animals for life.

On Friday Damon Hessin was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. The same day Hazel Hessin was given an eight week sentence suspended for six months and ordered to attend a 10-day training course. Both were ordered to pay £180 court costs and a £80 victim surcharge. The court heard RSPCA officers raided their rented £120,000 home in Melton Mowbray, on May 1 after a tip-off from the family’s landlady. The RPSCA have released shocking images of the dogs' remains which they discovered after they raided the home earlier this year

Investigators were shocked to find the rotting remains of the dogs in the kitchen which had been kept out-of-bounds by the family. When RSPCA inspector Deb Scotcher entered the kitchen she found six Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppies dead on the kitchen floor and further investigation led to the discovery of two puppy skulls. Prosecutor Kevin McCole told magistrates: 'When the inspector walked into the kitchen the smell was rancid and putrid, to her horror she saw the puppies were in advanced stages of decomposition, on a urine stained bed. 'Dog faeces was several inches thick and everything in the kitchen was in a total state of disarray. 'The vet estimated the puppies would have been about six months old when they died. The sight and smell of them was shocking and deeply distressing.' Roger Wood, chairman of the magistrates’ bench, told the brother and sister: 'Had this been a trial you would both be going to prison.' Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Deborah Scotcher said: 'The sentence was very appropriate, it was a harrowing case, the worst one I’ve seen, I’ll never forget it.