Two men who allowed calves and sheep to starve on their East Sussex farm have been banned from keeping farm animals for life.

Half-brothers Edmund Pilbeam, 58, and Andrew Putticks, 47, failed to properly feed or treat livestock on Diplocks Farm at Chalvington, near Polegate.

Eastbourne Magistrates' Court was told they kept calves in litter several feet deep, left them untreated for worms and allowed them to become emaciated.

Sheep were underfed for up to eight weeks, and the ribs and backbones of many of them were visible.

One vet said the sheep were the worst he had come across in 25 years of his work.

David Buck, prosecuting for the RSPCA, presented magistrates with three files of pictures showing what officers and vets saw when they entered the farm on February 28 last year.

He said: "The whole farm was in a ramshackle and dilapidated condition with piles of rubbish lying around and animals in appalling states."

Pilbeam, of Diplocks Farm, and Putticks, of Muddles Green, Chiddingly, near Hailsham, admitted seven charges of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and one count of failing to dispose of animal by-products properly.

Gregory Szanto, defending Putticks, said the farmer could not afford food or treatment as the business had not made a profit for years and its debts ran into thousands.

He said: "It was a Catch 22 situation. The farm was losing money, he couldn't afford to pay for food or for someone to look at the animals.

"Unfortunately, like many people, he felt things would get better. Sadly it didn't and the animals ended up in the state they were found in."

Adrian Turner, defending Pilbeam, said his client had also believed the business would pick up.

Magistrates said they had thought about jailing the men but had decided to spare them after taking their financial hardship into consideration.

The pair were given 240 hours of community punishment and banned from keeping farm animals for life.