A Kilmarnock man who subjected two children to unnecessary suffering in a house covered in dog faeces narrowly avoided a jail term.
Colin Skelton, 53, of Kilmaurs Road, admitted that he failed to provide for kids in his care at a property in Irvine, North Ayrshire.
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard the house of horrors had:
● Dog excrement and urine covering the kitchen floor;
● Maggots in carpets upstairs;
● Bin bags piled high in locked bedrooms with no furniture.
Prosecuting, Vicky McMillan told how concerns had been raised and police visited Skelton’s home in October 2017.
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Initially, they did not get a response and a neighbour told them Skelton attended the house “sporadically”.
Officers detected a putrid smell when they shouted through the letterbox and decided to enter the house.
When they went in there was a strong smell of dog faeces and urine.
They saw excrement was covering the floor and the house was uncomfortably cold.
In all of the four rooms downstairs only one bulb was working and there was no food in a kitchen littered with dog excrement and urine.
The fridge was black with mould and only contained a carton of out-of-date milk. Carpets on the ground floor were threadbare with floorboards visible.
Officers saw the sofa was torn and dirty and in the hall months worth of mail had built up.
Upstairs police found that there were maggots in the carpets.
There were three bedrooms, two of which were locked.
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Inside they were waist-high in black bin bags and contained no bedroom furniture. One room had a double bed but no bed linen. The bathroom was filthy.
Police were told Skelton was spending much of his time in Kilmarnock.
Defence agent Brian Holliman explained that Skelton had experienced upsetting circumstances in his life.
Sheriff Shirley Foran decided against imposing a prison sentence but said: “I could hardly be more troubled.”
Skelton was placed under supervision for 12 months and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.
