A group of 18 collie dogs forced to live in a filthy caravan for over a year were discovered after the stench was so bad police believed there was a dead human body inside.
The appalling conditions were uncovered when Stephen Sturman was reported missing from the caravan on a farm at Iddesleigh, Devon, in February last year.
Police went to the caravan where they were initially refused entry by his wife Rachel. But the stench was overwhelming and they thought a dead human body was inside. When they finally went in they saw the uninhabitable conditions with dog mess and urine soaked into the property piled up with rubbish and matted dogs inside.
District Judge Stuart Smith jailed Sturman, 61, and gave his estranged wife a suspended jail term. He them: “Conditions in that caravan were appalling and the condition of the dogs was horrific and horrendous. I have never seen an environment in such an appalling state. The caravan was utterly uninhabitable.”
The Sturmans had spent five years in the caravan and were only allowed three dogs on the farm site – but they got more, which interbred – and the rest never left the caravan.
The severely overcrowded collies were left undernourished, underweight and living around empty bottles, cans and junk – with the only access to water was in the toilet bowl – and unable to express normal behaviour as they were trapped, said the judge.
Vets said the dogs were suffering from neglect, anxiety, fear and helplessness and three died as they were attacked by other dogs, suffering bite marks and crush wounds to their throats. Two dead dogs were dumped in bags in junk in the garden, a third was left feet away from the caravan and had been trodden on as the owners came and went.
Both Sturmans admitted cruelty to 18 collie dogs around February 2024, and failing to stop two dogs, Bella and Gladia from being fatally attacked by other dogs, and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of all the dogs.
Sturman, who now lives in Kent, was jailed for 12 months after the court heard he had a similar previous conviction and ban from 2018 relating to cruelty to some cats. He was banned from keeping any animals for life.
Mrs Sturman, a 53 year old store manager, of Okehampton, Devon, was jailed for ten months, suspended for 18 months, and banned from keeping any animals for 15 years. Both were ordered to pay £2,000 each towards the RSPCA costs.
Exeter magistrates court heard police went to the caravan when Sturman was reported missing and the smell from inside was overwhelming and uncovered the horrendous conditions. One dog was so matted it had three kilos of fur removed.
The prosecution said the dogs slept on the filthy owners’ beds inside the caravan and said only three of them had ever been outside, the others had never gone out.
Solicitor Rob Jacobs, defending Mrs Sturman, said: “She loved those animals like they were her own. She was trapped in that situation and that relationship. No one can live like that but that is how she was living.”
Lawyer Callum Thomas, for mechanic Mr Sturman, said: “The conditions are shocking, not fit for anybody, the dogs or the Sturmans. He had been in complete denial about the scale of the problem.” The dogs have been rehomed.
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