Lyndhurst man Robert Russell is listed as a director of the Pet Healthcare Centre, which closed suddenly two weeks ago – leaving clients wondering where to take their animals.

A notice on the door says the practice at Pylewell Road has shut temporarily “due to business issues currently beyond our control”.

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court in June, Russell, 63, of Pikes Hill in Lyndhurst, admitted making indecent photographs of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals.

The court heard how between August 2013 and November 2019; he had made a series of indecent images of children and beastiality images which had been stored on external hard-drives.

Officers attended Russell’s home address after information was supplied linked to an IP address in relation to the download and possession of indecent images of children.

A number of hard-drives, alongside a tablet device, were seized as a result.

Of these images, 104 were Category A – the most serious, while 40 were Category B and 132 Category C images.

Whilst there were also 2,280 prohibited images of a child and 109 extreme pornographic images.

He was handed two-year community order, including a requirement to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order that will remain in force for five years.