Cat woman’s house of horrors
ITS stench was so bad, visitors felt like throwing up.
Caked in faeces, Anne Rushton’s trash-filled home was “virtually unfit for human habitation”.
Inside roamed her cats, who a court heard didn’t even have any litter.
Among them, dumped in a bin, was a dead kitten.
RSPCA inspectors documented the “dreadful conditions” the cats - and Rushton lived in as part of the charity’s prosecution.
Grim snaps show stained clothes, unmade beds and rubbish strewn across the South Shields property.
Her junk contained halfempty bottles, hair dye - and even a Sports Direct mug.
One police officer said the conditions were the worst he’d seen in his career.
Wallpaper was peeling from the living room wall amid a sea of empty takeaway cartons and food tins.
Some rubbish was stuffed in a Sunderland FC bag, although most of it was dumped on the floor.
Her sofa was stained brown while the dirt - including cat droppings - was long trodden into the floor.
“She kept cats in dreadful conditions,” said John Elwood, who prosecuted her at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
“The cats were found in an awful house and in a disgraceful state.”
She stashed her cats in zipped-up bags when taking them to penny arcades in 20C heat - where she was spotted with them playing on slot machines. “She’s kept cats in dreadful conditions,” said Mr Elwood. “The cats were found in an awful house in a disgraceful state. “The house was virtually unfit for human habitation.”
Rushton pleaded guilty to one count of breaching an order made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which disqualified her from owning cats.
Yet the terms of her new animal ban effectively mean she’s only prohibited from keeping pets for one extra year.
Already serving a decade-long ban imposed last year, she’s now banned until 2028.
And Rushton, who had been “abusive and threatening” to RSPCA officials during the probe, can appeal the ban in five years’ time.
Rushton claimed the cat in the bin had died from fleas.
These cats were found in an awful house and in a disgraceful state Prosecutor John Ellwood