THE son of a woman who runs an animal sanctuary raided by the RSPCA said yesterday he never undertook paid work there.

Bicester Magistrates’ Court heard Robert Russell, 25, referred to working at Crunchy’s on social networking sites. But he claimed he only mentioned the sanctuary in order to impress a girl.

Robert Russell, along with his mother Angela Russell, 44, her father, brother, two other children, a niece and a carer jointly deny 16 counts of animal welfare offences relating to Crunchy’s Animal Rescue, in Longworth, near Abingdon.

Giving evidence yesterday Mr Russell – who said he was partially deaf – was asked about posts he made on Twitter about Crunchy’s from August 2009.

In one post he urged people to “follow” Crunchy’s Animal Rescue, but he said: “I was trying to get more people to support my mum and her charity.”

In other tweets he said “It’s been a hard day”, and asked people to check out Crunchy’s on Twitter.

But Mr Russell said that related to his job fixing computers and Xbox consoles, and he was helping his mother by mentioning the charity.

On August 20, 2009, a tweet read: “Robert Russell is working hard at Crunchy’s Animal Rescue.”

Mr Russell said: “I said that to impress a girl I was speaking to on Twitter. I thought it sounded better than explaining everything I did.”

Mr Russell denied working for the charity and said he had helped his mother out “randomly”.

When the RSPCA raided the premises in January 2011 they found a dead horse with a hole dug nearby.

Mr Russell said he had dug it for a shed and denied telling RSPCA inspector Doug Davidson it was a grave.

Asked if he worked for Crunchy’s or had any responsibility for the animals there Mr Russell replied “no” to both questions.

Co-defendent Daniel Bunyan, 24, Angela Russell’s carer, told the court he also had nothing to do with the running of the animal sanctuary.

When Jonathan Coode, prosecuting, asked Mr Bunyan about a police statement he had given in relation to another incident where he detailed his work as a trainee vet, Mr Bunyan said he had lied. In the statement he talked about giving injections and applying pressure bandages to animals and being on call 24/7.

Mr Bunyan claimed his only connection to Crunchy’s was as an “appointee” to Angela Russell, to ensure she took medication and to drive her to medical appointments.

He said he did not go around the premises when he visited Mrs Russell and did not see the conditions the animals were living in.

When the trial began in April, the court heard RSPCA officials describe the sanctuary as the worst they had ever seen.

They allegedly found horses, ponies, dogs, rabbits, goats, ducks, chickens, pigs and turkeys living in mud and their own faeces and urine, with little or no food or clean water.

Angela Russell, 44, her father Frederick Russell, 81, her brother Peter Russell, 40, her children Robert, Louise and Kirsty Russell, 25, 22 and 20, all of Faringdon Road, Longworth, deny all the charges.

Her niece, Abigail McHugh, 20, of Pendennis Road, Swindon, and Angela Russell’s carer, Daniel Bunyan, 24, of The Court, Abingdon, have also pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The case continues.