Marshall admitted 18 charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the animals, contrary to the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act.

Solicitor Gordon Addison, defending, said Marshall, the mother of a disabled child, was classed as a vulnerable person and had been targeted.

He said: “She doesn’t really have any friends, but a person who was ‘a friend of hers’, to use the phrase in its most general way, invited her to look after her new boyfriend’s dog while they were on holiday.

“This gentleman turned up at night after dark with two dogs.

“A fortnight later he came back, she thought to collect the dog, but with another two dogs and another man, and said ‘Can you keep these as well?’ and that’s how it progressed.”

He added: “On one occasion they were armed, so she was given no choice in the matter.

“She was the dumping ground for dogs that were unwell.”

Mr Addison described having the animals in a small house as “absolutely brutal.”

He said: “She was terrified. She’s had to move four times and has had the assistance of the police in those moves. She is afraid to name these people.

“She wasn’t able to take one or more of these dogs to the vet, because it would have opened a can of worms.

“Fear is the dominant theme in this whole case.”