A family from Feltham was left "heartbroken" when a puppy they bought fell sick, collapsed and died days after he joined the family.

Charlie, an adorable tri-colour Cavalier King Charles spaniel, was unknowingly bought from a Hayes puppy farming gang, who were sentenced on Tuesday (May 22).

The gang operated by importing puppies farmed in Ireland and posting ads on websites like Gumtree and Pets 4 Homes, advertising the pets as from a litter of a loving family pet or even a pedigree animal.

In reality dogs were forced to intensively breed and kept in squalid conditions.

When owners would enquire after the puppies, they were sent to an address in Hayes where one of the conspirators would present the home as a loving family home with a litter of pups for sale.

Claire, who wanted to buy Charlie as a family pet, responded to an ad online and visited one of the homes in Hayes on February 1, 2016, and bought Charlie for £470.

"A woman opened the door and let us in. There were children there and a man came to show us the pups,” Claire said.

"He talked us through the paperwork and vaccination cards. He said his dad owned the father of the pups and he owned the mother but he didn’t show us her. The room was clean and the puppies seemed lively and friendly.”

Charlie, with his 13-year-old owner Ruby days after he was bought by the Feltham family

The court heard on Tuesday (May 22) that the gang were skilled at hiding the fact that they were puppy farming, going out of their way to disguise the tell-tale signs warned of by animal charities.

Even by the time Charlie got home, Claire started to notice things weren't quite right.

“Charlie sat on my lap in the car and was fine,” Claire says. “She slept the whole way. When we got home she was lively and playing. But when she went to the toilet it was quite runny.”

"She just slept, drank, diarrhoea, and straight back to bed," Claire recalls. "She was like that the whole day and wouldn’t eat so the following day I called the vet again".

Within two days, Charlie went from lively to lethargic, and had sickness and diarrhoea, so the family took him to the vet, who gave the dog an injection and sent her home.

Tri-coloured Spaniel Charlie was showing signs of being sick from day one and had to be put down two days later

Charlie already had a health card and immunisation history, provided by MyVet24/7, a pair of surgeries in Uxbridge and Hillingdon ran by vet Daniel Doherty, 49, previously of Wood Lane, Iver Heath.

Doherty was also convicted as part of the conspiracy and his surgeries provided vaccinations and health cards to more than 4,600 of the puppies.

Prosecutor Hazel Stevens said told the court that despite the health cards and vaccinations issues, the "majority of puppies sold required veterinary treatment, and a number of them died".

Vets told Claire that if she was still worried, she could bring him to the evening walk-in session, but Charlie didn't make it.

"By 3.30pm she’d collapsed, her legs gave way and she had no energy so I took her to the surgery," said Claire. "By the time I got her there she was half lifeless."

Daniel Doherty owns two MyVet24/7 surgeries in Hillingdon and Uxbridge

"The vet was certain it was parvovirus and gave us options - we could try intensive treatment which may or may not work, or we could avoid allowing Charlie to suffer any further and put her to sleep.

"We didn’t want her to suffer any more so we agreed to have her put to sleep. It was heartbreaking."

Vets tested a sample from Charlie which confirmed she had parvovirus. Dogs catch the disease from oral contact with infected faeces or items contaminated by infected faeces.

Claire and her family tried to contact the gang who sold them the farmed puppies, but their calls and texts went unanswered, so they called the RSPCA.

The animal charity had a number of calls about puppy farming in Hayes and executed a raid on four addresses in conjunction with Metropolitan police.

In a joint mission with police in May 2016, the charity swooped on addresses in Bradenham Road, Rosedale Avenue, Coldharbour Lane and Bedwell Gardens, all in Hayes.

Doherty worked with the puppy farming gang, which sold the dogs from four addresses in Hayes

They found evidence of puppy farming as well as health documentation for various puppies from MyVet24/7 practices.

Doherty was convicted in April of conspiracy to commit fraud and was sentenced on Tuesday (May 22) to a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

The vet must also carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and pay a victim surcharge of £140.

Simon O’Donnell, 30, previously of Bradenham Road, Hayes, and Thomas Stokes, 26, previously of Coldharbour Lane, Hayes, both received prison sentences of three years for conspiracy to commit fraud, as well as four-month concurrent terms for animal welfare offences.

Margaret McDonagh, 27, Simon O’Donnell's wife, received an 18-month community order for three fraud offences.

Thomas O’Donnell, 29, previously of Bedwell Gardens, Hayes, who admitted four offences of fraud and three animal welfare offences, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.

O'Donnell's wife Mary McDonagh, received a 12-month community order for one fraud offence.

Edward Stokes, 35, previously of Rosedale Avenue, Hayes, had his sentencing adjourned until June 14.