![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Puppy-case.jpg\")
One of the three puppies(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n‘Mr Lynch was clearly not a fit person to be owning animals’One of the three puppies(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n
A man ‘driven by profit’ has been convicted of two animal welfare offences after three Rottweiler puppies were found in a ‘filthy’ bathroom. Patrick Lynch, 49, was identified after a council executed a warrant at a house in Rochdale<\/a>.<\/p>\n It followed ‘intelligence’ suggesting someone living at the property on Foxholes Close was breeding dogs without a licence, the council said.<\/p>\n Trading standards officers walked inside and found the puppies ‘covered in faeces in a filthy six-feet by four-feet bathroom’, Rochdale Council<\/a> added.<\/p>\n A town hall spokesperson said: “The room the puppies were found in was so squalid it was described by a vet in attendance as smelling overwhelmingly of urine and faeces. Urine and faeces were on the floor and walls of the room and no bedding was provided for the animals.<\/p>\n “The dogs were immediately removed and placed into kennels.” All three went on to develop parvovirus, a highly contagious virus that affects dogs, Sadly, they had to be put to sleep.<\/p>\n Lynch, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty in December last year to breeding dogs without a licence and failing to properly look after animals in his care.<\/p>\n At Manchester and Salford<\/a> Magistrates’ Court last Friday, May 16, he was jailed for 16 weeks, suspended for two years, and banned from owning, keeping or transporting dogs for 10 years.<\/p>\n Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The court heard the council executed a warrant at the address on March 21, 2023. In addition to the sentence, Lynch was ordered to pay \u00a32,400 in prosecution costs, alongside a \u00a3154 victim surcharge.<\/p>\n Councillor Tricia Ayrton, cabinet member for climate change and environment at Rochdale Council, said: “Our trading standards teams use all the powers available to them to protect the public and these powers extend to the protection of animals too.<\/p>\n “They worked hard to build this case and I’m pleased with the result. Mr Lynch was clearly not a fit person to be owning animals, and the fact that he was driven by profit, makes this case all the more upsetting.<\/p>\n “I hope this sentence sends a clear message out to other people who think it\u2019s okay to abuse animals, that there is no hiding place for them and we will act on any intelligence we receive.”<\/p>\n Day in day out, our reporters in the Manchester Evening News newsroom bring you remarkable stories from all aspects of Mancunian life. However, with the pace of life these days, the frenetic news agenda and social media algorithms, you might not be getting a chance to read it.<\/p>\n That’s why every week our Features and Perspectives editor Rob Williams brings you Unmissable<\/strong>, highlighting the best of what we do – bringing it to you directly from us. Make sure you don’t miss out, and see what else we have to offer, by clicking here and signing up for MEN Daily News.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n And be sure to join our politics writer Jo Timan every Sunday for his essential commentary on what matters most to you in Greater Manchester each week in our newsletter Due North.<\/strong> You can also <\/strong>sign up for that here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n You can also get all your favourite content from the Manchester Evening News on WhatsApp. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to see everything we offer, including everything from breaking news to Coronation Street.<\/p>\n If you prefer reading our stories on your phone, consider downloading the Manchester Evening News app here,<\/strong><\/a> and our news desk will make sure every time an essential story breaks, you’ll be the first to hear about it.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1748039772_969_0_Puppy-case.jpg\")
The bathroom they were kept in(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n