Two Barrow men are being prosecuted for cruelty after starving cats were discovered eating the decomposed remains of dead animals.

RSPCA officers came across the appalling scene when they visited the house on Northgate Road in Liverpool on April 25, the Liverpool Echo reported.

Damian Beales and Robert High, who lived together at the time and have since moved to Barrow, have both admitted a charge of cruelty.

RSPCA officers found up to 10 cats who were so desperate and hungry that they had shockingly resorted to cannibalism.

Five dead cats were in the process of being eaten by the others.

The grim remains were discovered by the property's landlord who was so disturbed that he contacted the police who next alerted the RSPCA.

Beales and High have pleaded guilty to not taking such steps as were reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which you were responsible, were met to the extent required by good practice in that you failed to meet their need to be maintained in an appropriate body condition.

The men, who now share the same address in Barrow, will be sentenced later this month at Liverpool Magistrates Court.

The prosecution has been previously adjourned after both Beales, 21, and High, 22, repeatedly failed to turn up to court.

At one hearing, District Judge Wendy Lloyd described the matter as "an extreme case" and warned that warrants for their arrest could be issued.

She has also indicated the case is "an imprisonable matter."