A pensioner who was previously banned from owning animals but was discovered with neglected cats, dogs, and a canary has avoided jail.

Janet Oxlade, 73, was told she faced time behind bars after she admitted keeping dozens of flea-ridden and injured animals at her Kent home.

Two of the animals were in such a bad way they needed to be put to sleep. She was charged with multiple offences relating to six Yorkshire terriers, four daschunds, and four poodle-type dogs.

Oxlade, of Darlington Drive in Minster, Sheppey, was also charged with an offence relating to a poodle on January 11 last year at Saxon Place in Dartford.

In 2018, she was banned from keeping animals afters the RSPCA raided her Bexley home and found 38 dogs and 18 cats in filthy makeshift pens in her back garden.

Five years on and she was back in court in Maidstone in October charged with three counts of breaching a disqualification, two of failing in the duties of a person responsible for animal welfare, as well as causing unnecessary suffering to a canary named Elvis.

Sophie Reed, representing the RSPCA, told the court a member of the public made contact with Oxlade after she advertised a poodle puppy for sale.

After visiting the Sheppey woman the following day, the buyer searched her name online and saw she had been banned from owning animals and then reported her to the animal charity.

As a result, police and the RSPCA carried out a visit to Oxlade’s address and many of the animals were discovered flea-ridden and in small crates.

A canary was also discovered underweight, with a scaly leg infection, cysts, abscesses, and feather loss.

In an interview with officers after the raid, Oxlade said she had the animals to support her as she had become “isolated and depressed” without them. She claims she had to move out of Bexley following her ban in 2018.

Oxlade admitted she owned some poodle dogs to breed but she only produced one litter a year. She also owned a rottweiler, which her daughter had given back to her, which had to be euthanised because of the condition it was in.

The defendant claimed she didn’t understand she was still banned from owning animals and thought that had ended when she paid off a £2,000 fine from the 2018 incident.

Ms Reed explained: “Two animals had to be euthanised, many were covered in fleas and lived in poor housing such as small cages with no natural light.

“They displayed fear and anxiety when approached.”

Appearing at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on Friday, March 8, the Sheppey woman was handed suspended prison sentence for 120 days which will last two years.

She must also undergo at least 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) sessions.

RSPCA inspector Shahnaz Ahmad led the investigation for the animal welfare charity. She said: “We heard in court that Oxlade had deliberately breached a lifetime animal ban, which was imposed in 2018 so that no more animals would suffer in her care. Unfortunately she was in possession of a number of animals, some of which were in very poor condition, under-socialised and required urgent veterinary treatment.

“We are asking members of the public who are buying a puppy to be vigilant about who they are buying from. We were alerted to this breach after a Google search brought up Oxlade’s name and history, when a well-meaning member of the public bought a puppy from her.”

The court heard that Oxlade’s actions fell outside expected levels of care, and she claimed to misunderstand the ban and the term already in place.

On sentencing she was told this was a deliberate breach of the ban, and if it is breached again then she will go to prison.