AN unemployed teacher accused of causing suffering to dozens of exotic animals in his care yesterday told a court that RSPCA officers were "burglars" who had "stolen" his animals.

Colin Shaw, 41, who denies 27 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to alligators, pythons, terrapins, anacondas and turtles in his care, was giving evidence at South Durham Magistrates' Court, in Darlington.

Mr Shaw is accused of keeping the reptiles in squalid conditions, with slimy water and faeces-covered cages, in a "ramshackle, dilapidated, stand-alone barn" on the outskirts of Wingate, County Durham, after the RSPCA raided the property in 2001 and confiscated many creatures.

Yesterday, the former secondary school music teacher said that two reptile experts the RSPCA had called as witnesses were wrong, and that the animals were cared for adequately.

He said: "As far as I could see, there was nothing wrong with them."

Mr Shaw, of Market Crescent, Wingate, also told the court that he believed Peter Heathcote, chief executive of the Reptile Trust, had reported Mr Shaw so he could have the animals himself.

Mr Shaw said he cleaned the animals' cages once or twice a week, and that any dirt or deposits in their drinking and bathing water was because of the poor quality of the hard water in the area.

The case continues.