A couple are to be sentenced after they were found to have breached criminal behaviour orders on the number of dogs they could keep at home.

Michael and Irene Gant, 80 and 78, were made the subject of three-year orders in 2020 after council action following neighbour complaints about their whippets barking hundreds of times an hour.

It limited them to keeping just four dogs at a time and not breeding puppies at home.

Eastern Daily Press: The couple were made subject of criminal orders after complaints about barking dogs at their property on Weston Road in Norwich The couple were made subject of criminal orders after complaints about barking dogs at their property on Weston Road in Norwich (Image: Google)

Both were subsequently charged with breaching the order by having too many dogs on their property in Weston Road, Norwich, on three separate occasions.

They were convicted following a trial at Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court in November. 

Mr Gant was also found guilty of not allowing a council public protection officer to carry out an inspection in September 2021, in breach of the order.

He was told he will be sentenced on April 21 after attending a hearing at Norwich Magistrates' Court following a visit from police last month after a warrant had been issued.

An arrest warrant has also been issued for Mrs Gant over her sentencing.

Eastern Daily Press: Picture of a whippet like the one the couple owned and which were recorded barking hundreds of times an hourPicture of a whippet like the one the couple owned and which were recorded barking hundreds of times an hour (Image: Wikimedia Commons/Brambleberries Photography)

Imposing the criminal order in October 2020, magistrates said it was the only way to provide some relief for neighbours in the Mile Cross street.

More than 788 recordings of barking had been submitted to Norwich City Council between June and September 2020, a period when people were confined to their homes due to Covid restrictions.

On one occasion, a dog barked 322 times in 10 minutes, and on another, 923 barks were heard in an hour.

Eastern Daily Press: Michael and Irene Gant leave Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court after being given a criminal behaviour orderMichael and Irene Gant leave Great Yarmouth Magistrates Court after being given a criminal behaviour order (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Gant had claimed in court that the recordings were “manufactured” and that his neighbours were “fanatical” about filming them. 

However their next-door-neighbour, who gave evidence in the trial, dismissed accusations of “inciting” the dogs and said the noise had subsided after the Gants had got rid of some of them.