A WOMAN let a dog starve to death and kept five others in “filthy” conditions.

RSPCA officers were called to Tracey Munden’s former home in Hathaway Close, Dines Green, Worcester, on May 4.

Worcester Magistrates Court heard a report where one officer said a “very strong” smell of faeces and decay was coming from the property before he entered.

Inside, he found a dead Staffordshire bull terrier-type dog looking like “a skeleton with skin pulled over it” lying in the bottom of a cage with no food or water. A metal bowl nearby contained urine and faeces.

An “extremely skinny” bull mastiff was also found in a cage without food or water.

Upstairs, two “nervous” chihuahuas were discovered shut in one bedroom while in the next room, a Yorkshire terrier, said to be “close to death”, was found in a tiny cage.

A post mortem on the bull terrier revealed it had starved to the extent its body had begun using fat reserves in its bone marrow to keep alive.

The remaining animals were signed over to the RSPCA.

Munden, aged 39, pleaded guilty to 19 charges relating to animal cruelty.

Nick Sutton, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Munden had failed to provide food for her animals, to protect them from pain and suffering and to keep them in a hygienic environment.

He added Munden claimed in interview the animals had been “all right” when she visited the day before the raid.

But, he argued this, was “clinically impossible” as the post mortem revealed the Staffordshire bull terrier had not eaten for at least two days.

“She claimed there had been difficulty with her ex-husband and she was frightened to go back home,” he said.

“But then she states in interview she was there almost daily.”

He added: “What was going on with her husband was wholly irrelevant to the animals’ care.

“There was no reason for her to turn her back on them and let them die a long and painful death with her full knowledge.”

Mark Turnbull, defending, said Munden accepted responsibility for the care of the animals but believed her ex-husband should take some blame as he had bought many of them.

Munden and her ex separated in January this year and the neglect of the animals had happened against a backdrop of a “violent” relationship.

“She eventually left the property and she visited when she could but that was not as regular as it should have been.

“She had done things to try and see if there was a friend who could take the animals from her.”

Mr Turnbull said Munden was frightened to return because she feared her ex-husband would try to find her if she did.

As well as her depression and asthma she had been in hospital after suffering two mini strokes and was currently signed off from her job at Worcestershire County Council.

She had “never intended” to cause suffering to the animals.

Magistrates ordered a report to be carried out on Munden, of King George Close, Bromsgrove, before sentencing.

She will return to court on Thursday, September 29.