A judge has urged an elderly couple and council officials to settle a dispute over measures to deal with noise complaints about their barking dogs.   

Michael and Irene Gant, 80 and 78, are seeking to overturn their conviction and sentencing for breaching criminal behaviour orders.

They were both made the subject of three-year orders in 2020 after action by Norwich City Council following neighbour complaints about their whippets barking hundreds of times an hour.

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

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

However, both were subsequently found guilty of breaching the order by having too many dogs on their property in Weston Road, Norwich, on three separate occasions.

Michael Gant was also found guilty of not allowing council public protection officers to carry out an inspection in September 2021.

Setting out their intention to appeal Michael Gant, who now lives in Suffield, told Norwich Crown Court he accepted he may have inadvertently breached the order, but that his wife had been caused “undue stress”.  

“She is an upstanding member of the local community and has never broken the law,” he added. 

Recorder John Hardy said this was the latest chapter in a “long-running neighbour dispute that shows no prospect of resolution”. 

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

READ MORE: Life quieter for neighbours after couple convicted over noise nuisance dogs

Setting a date for the appeal to be heard on December 1, he asked council officials to review the case and both parties to attempt to settle it out of court.

“These people are law-abiding, respectful and thoroughly decent and it’s a shame they are here. Let’s resolve this please,” he added.

Magistrates imposed the criminal orders in October 2020 saying 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 the council between June and September 2020. On one occasion, a dog barked 322 times in 10 minutes.