A married couple from Newport have been banned from keeping animals for life after inspectors discovered 114 guinea pigs and 31 cats crammed into their filth-ridden home. Michael Weston, 73, and Helen Weston, 61, each pleaded guilty to five animal welfare offences at Newport Magistrates Court and received 12-week prison sentences, suspended for 12 months.
According to a local newspaper report, the lifetime disqualification from keeping animals comes with no possibility of appeal for ten years. The same report confirms the total number of animals removed from the property stood at 145, combining the guinea pigs and cats taken into RSPCA care.
What did inspectors find at the property?
Inspectors attended the Duffryn address in May 2025 after a warrant was issued amid mounting welfare concerns, according to the local newspaper report. Guinea pigs were stacked in broken cages throughout the couple's cluttered living room, while others roamed loose, and some cats were showing flu-like symptoms and struggling to breathe.
RSPCA chief inspector Emma Smith, giving evidence in a written statement, said she had never encountered conditions this severe. She described the atmosphere inside the property in stark terms:
The smell of faeces and ammonia was overwhelming.
The RSPCA said that what began as a modest number of guinea pigs escalated after Michael Weston fell ill and his wife took on the role of his carer, at which point the situation spiralled beyond their control.
How bad were conditions inside the house?
Smith told the court that ground-down faeces had compacted into what she called a
