A DOG owner handed cash to an animal sanctuary to look after his pets days after the RSPCA raided and closed it down, a court heard.

Didcot resident James Luker told Bicester Magistrates’ Court he had paid around £2,000 over a year to Crunchy’s Animal Rescue, in Longworth, to care for four golden retrievers, two cats and a rabbit.

The court heard he had not seen three of the dogs since the centre was raided and did not know what had happened to them.

The premises was raided by RSPCA inspectors on Friday, January 20, last year, but the court heard Angela Russell, of Faringdon Road, Longworth, collected cash from Mr Luker the following Monday.

Mr Luker said he and his wife Sandra had been forced to give up their pets after they fell ill and lost their home.

He said: “We met (Angela Russell) at the Tesco car park in Didcot on mostly Mondays. I used to give her £80 a fortnight by cash.

“We didn’t know it had been raided until we saw it on the television news. I paid her in the morning and it came on the television at 6pm.”

Mr Luker said he saw the couple’s four dogs once during the time they were at the centre. The fate of three of them is not known, and one – called Winston – now lives with him and his wife.

“We saw the dogs on that occasion. We tried to ask if we could come over and see them but she always said there was something she was going to be doing.”

Earlier the court heard from RSPCA inspectors who described conditions at the charity sanctuary as the worst they had ever seen.

Angela Russell, 44, her father, brother, three children, niece and carer all deny 16 counts of animal welfare offences relating to the centre.

The case continues.