A CUMBRIAN dog dealer is at the centre of a cruelty investigation after nine puppies left in the back of his car almost baked alive.

Low Row puppy trader John Walsh is alleged to have left the pups crammed into two small dog baskets in sweltering heat while he went on a day-trip to the Channel Islands.

The pups were discovered after a traffic warden heard high-pitched whining from the back of a Vauxhall Astra car at Weymouth, Dorset.

All nine of the dogs - five Jack Russells, three Papillons and a Westie cross - were suffering from heat exhaustion and one was found to be close to death.

Police were waiting to question Mr Walsh as he disembarked a ferry back to the mainland but he drove off in a hire van, leaving the dogs in the car at the terminal.

A RSPCA spokesman said: ‘police officers from Brampton visited John Walsh at Denton Hall Farm, Low Row. Mr Walsh refused an invitation to be interviewed. A file will now be submitted to the RSPCA prosecutions department.’