A JUDGE has jailed two members of a family found guilty of "prolonged neglect" of animals at Crunchy's Animal Rescue.

Today District Judge Tim Pattinson sentenced Angela Russell, her father, three children and niece, who were all convicted of 16 counts of animal welfare offences in relation to the Longworth centre.

The 44-year-old "driving force" behind the centre was given a 26-week prison sentence, the maximum allowed in law, and her 25-year-old son Robert received 18 weeks.

Five of the defendants were also deemed "unfit to own animals" by District Judge Pattinson and were disqualified for at least ten years.

Angela and her father Fred Russell were both given lifetime bans on owning, caring for or transporting animals at Oxford Magistrates' Court.

Inspectors from the RSPCA raided the centre over a weekend in January last year and seized 95 animals, at least 50 of which were suffering from neglect.

District Judge Pattinson said the animals were living in “a sea of mud and faeces containing shocking and dangerous hazards”.

They included ponies, dogs, rabbits, goats, ducks, chickens, pigs and turkeys, which the court heard also had little or no food or clean water. 

During the trial the prosecution described how animals had been found in areas containing rubbish, bundles of barbed wire, metal frames from burned mattresses and rusting cars.