Children lived in terrible squalor.

POLICE who called at a house to investigate alleged cruelty to animals found two children living in appalling squalor, a court was told.

There was cat and dog excrement throughout the house in Rhyl, including on the bed where the children slept, and dirty clothes and remains of food lay around.

Inside a cage was a dead bird and there were dead fish in a tank.

The three-year-old boy's nappy was heavy with urine and both he and his five-year-old sister were crawling with headlice and nits.

But prosecutor Tracey Willingham told Prestatyn magistrates their mother was more concerned that the police had left the front door open, letting a cat escape.

Ms Willingham said the officers had gone to the house after a report that live chickens had been thrown to dogs in the yard, but solicitor David Jones, representing the woman, 41, and her husband, 37, said that had not occurred.

The children had since been taken into care.

The couple both admitted two charges of child neglect and they were committed to appear at Mold Crown Court on November 26 for sentence.

Mr Jones said the family had been living in a caravan after problems with neighbours, though their four dogs and three cats had remained behind.

The family moved back into the house three days before the police visit and it had not been cleaned.