New owners were left with huge vets bills after being conned into paying thousands for puppies only to discover they were seriously ill, riddled with parasites and were not the breed they had been told they were.

Buyers were duped with claims the dogs were vaccinated, microchipped and had been well bred in a family environment but were in fact been sourced from disreputable breeders.

Gang ringleader Michael Rushmer, 33, of Low Road in Thurlton, set up the racket within weeks of being released from prison.

READ MORE: Puppy farming gang members jailed for selling ‘diseased’ dogs

He had been jailed in 2019 and given a lifetime dog-breeding ban for a similar “callous and mean-spirited” fraud, King’s Lynn Crown Court was told.

Michael Rushmer has been jailed again for running an operation that sold sick and dying puppies (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)

On his release he attempted to distance himself from the operation by recruiting a team of drug addicts who he paid £50 per dog to sell to unsuspecting buyers on his behalf between December 2020 and June 2021.

Josh Brown, 32, Jessica Adams, 34, Samantha Brown, 33, and Thomas Keeler, 36, placed adverts online charging between £900 and £1,500 for puppies they said were sought after........

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