Crufts winner’s animal cruelty conviction prompts complaints to Channel 4

Winner Lee Cox was found in 2001 to have kept a spaniel with a chronically infected ear that eventually had to be surgically removed. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

Animal charities have complained to Channel 4 after the winner of Crufts best in show was found to have been convicted of animal cruelty, and said the winning dog is an “extreme” breed that has had a “lifetime of suffering”.

After Lee Cox and his four-year-old Clumber spaniel Bruin won best in show at the prestigious dog competition, it emerged that Cox had a previous conviction for animal cruelty.