Police went looking for a missing man – and found a decomposing dog inside his boarded up house.

Michael Senior had been reported for missing his probation induction appointments on June 14 and 20.

The officers made the grim discovery when they arrived at the heroin and crack cocaine addict’s former home in Fieldhead Gardens, Shaw Cross, Dewsbury, Kirklees magistrates heard.

The 30-year-old was handed the community order as a direct alternative to custody for offences including theft and assaulting a police officer.

He pleaded guilty to breaching the order, which included six months of drug treatment.

Ian Whiteley, mitigating, described the order as still in its infancy and said that his client could not switch off his drug abuse “like a light switch.”

He added: “At his previous address he was bullied, he moved out and it was boarded up. He knows nothing about the decomposing dog.

“Ten days ago he moved to a new address in Lee Road, Ravensthorpe, but his phone was stolen from him and that’s why probation couldn’t contact him.”

Magistrates extended Senior’s drug rehabilitation requirement by two months as punishment for the breach.