MARTIN Burberry today told of his nightmare existence living next door to the couple who kept 19 dogs in their two-bedroom council flat.

He branded Beatrice and James Bowman as "the original neighbours from hell" and described how they had shattered his peaceful existence.

Earlier this week Mr and Mrs Bowman, who now live in Carlisle, were banned for life from keeping animals after they had each pleaded guilty at Blackburn magistrates to 14 offences of causing unnecessary suffering to dogs.

The court heard how 15 adult dogs and four puppies were seized by the RSPCA on the day the Bowmans were evicted from their council flat in Burnley Close, Blackburn.

"I danced on the street that day," said Mr Burberry, aged 36. "For more than two years that couple made my life hell. From the day they moved in, it just got worse and worse until I was existing on one hour's sleep a day because of the constant barking. It went on all through the night.

"When I complained all I got was abuse and I lost count of how many forms I filled in for the environmental health people."

Mr Burberry praised the magistrates decision to ban the Bowmans from keeping animals.

"All the time they lived here I never saw those dogs taken out for a walk," said Mr Burberry. "Most of them were born in that flat and never stepped out of it. That is no way to treat animals." When the couple first moved in to the ground floor flat they had just two dogs.

"For the first few months it was fairly quiet but the level of disturbance gradually increased," said Mr Burberry.

"I ended up on sleeping pills and still could not sleep. The stress and strain became unbearable. My health suffered and I had to drop out of a graphic design course I was doing.

"I just could not function on one hour's sleep, which was as much as I could get with the dogs barking day and night.

"I was not the only person around here that they antagonised and there were a lot of people besides me who were glad to see the back of them."

Mr Burberry said another dog belonging to the couple had been found drowned in the canal.

"I have been told the dog was drowned deliberately by someone who had a grievance against the Bowmans," said Mr Burberry.

"That shows the level of bad feeling there was against them."

The RSPCA prosecuted Mr and Mrs Bowman and Inspector Stephen Greenhalgh said after the hearing that he was delighted with the life-time ban imposed on the couple.

All the dogs involved recovered after veterinary treatment and have now been found new homes.

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