Eastbourne couple jailed for neglecting children in squalid house
- Published
Gemma Brogan and Christopher Bennett pleaded guilty to child neglect
A couple who neglected children in a house filled with litter, rotting food and animal faeces have been jailed.
Police were called in June last year to a domestic dispute at a property in Eastbourne, East Sussex, where 35 dogs were found and taken into care.
Sussex Police said officers who entered the "filthy" house were unable to breathe normally due to the "stench".
Christopher Bennett, 35, and Gemma Brogan, 41, were both jailed for six years after admitting child neglect.
Detectives said it was "impossible to paint an accurate picture of the full extent of degradation and filth" the children endured.
Bennett and Brogan also pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after keeping dogs in filthy conditions
Det Con Fiona Ashcroft, of East Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said: "The state of the whole house was shocking and repugnant. It was cluttered and was strewn with discarded clothing, litter, rotting food and animal faeces."
Bennett and Brogan also pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after being prosecuted by the RSPCA in separate cases in February and August this year.
Det Con Ashcroft said the dogs, one of which was dead, were "malnourished and skinny".
"Officers were shocked to see dozens of dogs climbing over each other to try and reach the open door," she said.
"Their fur was greasy, matted and covered in each other's faeces.
"In amongst the filth and melee of dogs, officers removed a sleeping child from the sofa, who was dressed in just a soiled nappy and had dogs jumping all over them."
Det Con Ashcroft added: "It is unequivocally one of the most awful addresses I have ever been in."
A total of 36 dogs lived at the property in Eastbourne
The RSPCA removed the dogs, some of whom were pregnant, and they were taken into care across Sussex, Kent and Surrey, and later rehomed.
For the animal cruelty offences, Bennett was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned indefinitely from keeping all animals.
Brogan was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail, suspended for two years, given a five-year ban from keeping all animals and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service.
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