A MAN is accused of drowning 10 cats and dumping them at a tip.

Mark Blazey, of Clayton Close in Weymouth, is on trial at Poole Magistrates' Court accused of two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and two counts of failing to undertake the duty of a person responsible for an animal to ensure its welfare.

Blazey, 54, denies all the charges.

Prosecuting, Rowan Morton, alleged that Blazey was responsible for the cats and 'purposefully and forcibly' drowned the cats by submerging them in a body of water.

The court heard that on February 8 last year, a man driving a silver Rover dumped two suitcases which contained five dead cats at the Weymouth recycling centre.

On February 15, the same car was seen back at the tip and the driver was seen dumping a black bin bag which also contained five dead cats.

Ms Morton said that Blazey admitted that it was him that attended the recycling centre in that car.

CCTV was shown of the silver car attending the site.

Giving evidence, the assistant manager of the recycling centre confirmed that he found five 'sopping wet' cats on both occasions.

An RSPCA inspector involved in the case, Patrick Bailey, appeared as a witness and told the court that on February 9 he attended the Weymouth recycling centre because he received a call concerning a number of dead cats found at the centre.

He told the court that the cats were saturated but that their body condition was good, in that they seemed well fed and had no obvious injuries that may have caused their deaths. He made enquiries into the vehicle seen dropping off the suitcases and found that it belonged to Blazey but was registered to an old address.

On February 16 he said he returned to the recycling centre after receiving another call to say that the gentleman had returned the day before and that more cats had been dumped in a bin bag.

Mr Bailey said he attended Blazey's address on February 26 after receiving calls from people concerned about the number of cats Blazey had in his flat and recognised Blazey's car parked outside.

He told the court that when he got into the one-bedroom flat he was immediately surrounded by cats and that there was a strong smell of urine. It was said that Blazey told the inspector he had 15 cats but the inspector said he counted a total of around 40 cats in the flat.

The inspector said he expressed his concerns to Blazey that there were way too many cats in the flat and was able to remove 28 of them on that day.

He said he wanted to remove more of the cats the following day and arrange an interview as part of his investigation but that Blazey became 'confrontational' and would not allow him in the property again.

Also, giving evidence, PC Bayliss told the court Blazey was not helpful or cooperative in her investigation and gave a largely 'no comment' interview.

She said she had cause to attend Blazey's home on June 18 last year. She said his property contained a number of cats and kittens. In the bathroom, she said that there was a large bucket in the bath, a green tarpaulin full of dirty water as well as what looked to her like a sack which was hanging over the curtain rail.

Prosecuting Ms Morton said that Blazey claimed that the cats had died after he returned home and discovered that they were poisoned and had taken the cats to the tip.

However, veterinary experts Dr Henrietta Martineau and Dr Sean Taylor, said that no poisons which are routinely tested for in post mortem were found and confirmed that diagnosing the cause of death in cats as drowning was difficult to determine.

The trial continues.