Mick Hartley

A tale of animal lovers:

Stephanie Taylor, 51, and 71-year-old partner John Gooch, of Bingham Drive, Staines, admitted 13 counts of cruelty to animals at Staines Magistrates Court on Wednesday, August 22.

The court heard the creatures, who have all now been destroyed, were so tightly packed into the couple’s former home in Ashford that they were living “on top of each other” as there was not enough floor space.

Prosecutor Chris Simms told the court the smell of urine and faeces in the flat was “unbearable”…

A statement from a police officer called to help deal with the problem said it appeared the rat cages had never been cleaned.

“There were dead rats inside the cages and a number looked like they were dying,” it read.

Defence barrister Lesley Barry said Taylor, who had previously been banned for life from owning animals, had become overwhelmed by the situation after buying two rats from a pet shop which then started to breed. Wild rats had then infiltrated the flat and continued to breed.

“She realised she had a population explosion,” said the barrister.

“Then it escalated and we are in the realms of 316 rats.”

She said Taylor, who viewed the creatures as “my babies”, was an animal lover and had not wilfully neglected her animals.

The court heard how she had tried to self-medicate the rats’ abscesses and tumours with vaseline because she did not trust going to the vets.

Outside the court, RSPCA officer Dave Johnson said he had been shocked by what he saw.

“The smell was unbearable,” he said. “There were rats everywhere, all in cages, and about 100 just running around loose.

“They were in the kitchen, living room and there was a wardrobe full of them. They were even in the walls.”

Cruelty to animals? I mean, with rats, does anyone care? What about firms like Rentokil, who specialise in killing the little buggers? Or Rentokil’s clients, who lay down rat poison? That’s pretty cruel, isn’t it? And I don’t suppose anyone’s shedding any tears about the fate of those 316, all “destroyed” (not even dignified with the phrase “put down”). Not much effort, I should think, went into finding alternative homes for the healthy ones, or releasing them into the wild (ie down the nearest drain).

The sad couple involved aren’t so much cruel as, well, stupid. Still – a wardrobe full of rats!