A MAN has been given a 10-year ban from keeping dogs after three of 53 kept at his Kidderminster home were so mange-ridden they had to be put down.

James Carter, now of Kingsford Lane, Wolverley, was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 costs after admitting six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to dogs to town magistrates. Carter, 53, was being evicted with his family from his Victoria Place home in August last year when police stopped a van towing a horsebox, containing 25 terrier-cross dogs - with another in the cab of the van - in Summerhill Avenue.

Officials from the RSPCA and a vet found several dogs suffering with ailments including fur loss, skin lesions, blindness and collapsed eyes. Three were so ill with mange they had to be put down.

Twenty-seven other dogs were found at the family home and were taken into RSPCA care.

They belonged to Carter's wife Susan, who in a separate hearing in March was also banned from keeping dogs for 10 years and ordered to do 150 hours community service after admitting similar charges.

She had admitted loading the horsebox. The family had moved into the house in 1996 and a small number of dogs had mingled with others in the area and bred until spiralling in number to 53.