Earlier this month, the publication reported how Jeffrey Speakman’s other son Neil had applied for a pet shop licence at the same site – and wanted to keep and sell 30 to 40 dogs from there.

But councillors on Bury Council’s licensing committee unanimously rejected the application at a meeting last week.

The press and public were banned from the meeting while the matter was discussed and decided on – but committee chair Councillor David Jones said afterwards: “We heard a lengthy representation from the applicant about what he planned to do there and we questioned him closely on his relationship with his father.

“We felt if we granted the licence, it would have put the father in breach of the order placed on him by magistrates last year.”

Bentley Hall Farm owner Jeffrey Speakman, 66, and son Richard, 22, were also handed four-month suspended jail terms at Bury Magistrates Court after admitting 11 animal welfare offences in September last year.

Police and RSPCA inspectors swooped on the farm, after the undercover Manchester Evening News sting, and found dogs living in their own faeces and with untreated medical conditions – including a Labrador found dead in her bed from organ failure.

RSPCA inspectors said some older dogs at the farm had been kept purely as ‘breeding machines’ – producing litter after litter to be sold at around £250 per puppy.

They seized 137 animals during the raid after discovering a number left in pain and thirsty in filthy, overcrowded sheds.

Neil Speakman, who was not involved in the case so could have theory kept dogs at the premises, said after the meeting: “It was disappointing outcome.

"I was applying for a pet shop licence – I’m not my dad and I’m not my brother.

“But I think public perceptions before the hearing swayed the decision.

"I think the decision was inevitable. It felt like I was fighting a losing battle.”