A WOMAN who left four cats to suffer a painful death has been jailed after breaching an order banning her from owning pets for a second time.

Stacey Louise Dick was banned from owning pets for 15 years after she left her four pet cats to die after moving out of a Barrow flat in 2015.

The animals all died from multiple organ failure after going without food and investigators found their lifeless bodies ridden with maggots and fleas.

The neglect occurred between June and September 2014.

RSPCA investigators did not find any food or water in the house, with vets later confirming that none of the cats had been fed for a significant amount of time.

Dick admitted abandoning them when she moved home and claimed that she visited occasionally to feed them.

The court heard how after discovering three of the four cats had died during one visit, Dick left their decaying bodies and the one surviving animal.

She was banned from owning pets for 15 years after allowing pets Rosie, Mojo, Daisy and Cheryl to perish in her home.

Speaking at the time, RSPCA prosecutor Steven Marsh explained how the animals were decomposing, with some missing eyes and riddled with fleas and maggots.

But Dick was back before the courts in July 2018 after she was found living at a house in Cameron Street with five dogs.

She argued she had not understood the conditions of the ban and was handed a 12 month community order and tasked with completing 50 hours of unpaid work.

Defence solicitor Amy Watkin said at the time: “She knew she could not own dogs, but because the dogs belong to the person whose house she lived in, she accepts she is guilt.

“These dogs are well looked after and well loved, and there is no suggestion of any neglect or malnourishment. No harm has come to them since she has been living there.

“She never had any involvement in their care and was not left alone with them.”

Last week the 26-year-old was back in court again after being charged with breaching the ban for a second time.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court heard she had been found living in a house with three dogs. Magistrates were told Dick was on the tenancy of that property.

The Probation Service told the court Dick had only completed 18 hours of the unpaid work sentence she had been given in July.

In their sentencing, as published in the court results, magistrates said: “No community requirements are appropriate, the defendant has indicated she will not comply and has failed to comply with the disqualification order on more than one occasion.”

Dick, who pleaded guilty to breaching her disqualification, was jailed for a total of eight weeks.