A COUPLE moved house abandoning their two dogs, one of which starved to death, a court was told.

Pathologist Irene McCandlish said in a report to Teesside magistrates that it was the worst case of neglect she had examined in her 25 years of professional experience.

Christine Dawson, 37, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a black and white terrier bitch that died, when she appeared before the court yesterday.

She also pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a black and tan cross.

David Anthony Mitchinson, 29, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the second dog.

Solicitor Simon Catterell, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: "In the post-mortem report on the dead animal, the pathologists said it was the worst case of starvation they had ever come across.

"There was nothing wrong with those animals - no contributory disease or injury. It was just a case of neglect."

The court was told the dogs were left to fend for themselves in the backyard of a house in Teesdale Terrace, Thornaby, Teesside, when Dawson and Mitchinson moved house to Roworth Road, Middlesbrough.

Mr Catterell said the dogs were found "by chance" when a neighbour slung a mattress over the wall into the backyard of the house.

The surviving dog crawled into the open and was spotted by the man, who altered the RSPCA.

Magistrates adjourned the cases against the couple until June 4, for pre-sentence reports. They were granted conditional bail.

A hearing over three allegations of causing unnecessary suffering to animals against 48-year-old Kathleen Jaffray, of Roworth Road, Middlesbrough, was adjourned until June 12. She entered a plea of not guilty and was given conditional bail.