A couple of child abusers, Christopher Bennett and Gemma Brogan, who mistreated, neglected, and secluded their children in a house full of trash, rotting food, and animal poop has been sentenced to prison.
Police attended to a domestic dispute at an Eastbourne, East Sussex house in June last year when 35 dogs were found and taken into custody.
Sussex Police claimed the “stench” on the “filthy” property prevented police entering it from breathing normally.
Following their admissions of child abuse, Christopher Bennett, 35, and Gemma Brogan, 41, both got six-year prison terms. The couple physically mistreated the kids, and pictures were taken. Bennett and Brogan allegedly were also sexually mistreating the dogs in the residence.
Detectives said it was “impossible to paint an accurate picture of the full extent of degradation and filth” the youngsters encountered.
Detective Fiona Ashcroft of the East Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit said, “The state of the entire property was dreadful and uncomfortable. It was messy and filled with animal waste, rotting food, and thrown-away clothes.
Following separate cases prosecuted by the RSPCA in February and August of this year, Christopher Christopher Bennett and Gemma Brogan entered a guilty plea to animal cruelty.
The dogs, one of which passed away, were “malnourished and skinny,” claims Det Con Ashcroft.
Her account of being stunned to witness dozens of dogs scrambling over each other to try and reach the open door:
Their fur was matted, dirty, and covered in excrement from each other.
“In among the filth and melee of dogs, police took a sleeping child from the sofa who was dressed in just a soiled nappy and had dogs jumping all over them.”
“It is one of the most awful addresses I have ever been in,” Det Con Ashcroft said.
The RSPCA saved the dogs — some of whom were pregnant — who were housed in Sussex, Kent, and Surrey before they were rehomed.
Christopher Bennett was permanently banned from having any animals and sentenced to eighteen weeks in prison for animal cruelty.
Gemma Brogan was sentenced to eighteen weeks in prison, suspended for two years, banned from having any animals for five years and obliged to complete one hundred hours of community service.
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