A “depraved” man who had sex with his pet chickens while his wife filmed him has been jailed for three years.

Rehan Baig, 37, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court after pleading guilty to offences including having intercourse with chickens, possessing images of himself and his wife engaging in sex acts with a dog and making indecent images of children.

His wife, Haleema Baig, 38, was handed a six-month suspended sentence after admitting that she filmed her husband.

The court heard that the offending was discovered when National Crime Agency officers executed a search warrant at the family home on Shepherd Street, in Bradford, in July 2019, after intelligence that Baig was in possession of indecent images of children.

Computer equipment was seized from the house and 49 indecent images of children were found – including 11 in the most serious category, some of which featured children as young as six.

Officers also found a “significant” quantity of extreme pornographic images, including a number of “first-generation, homemade movies” featuring Baig, and occasionally his wife, engaging in sexual activity with animals and saved under the file name “Family Vids”.

Some of the images featured the couple engaging in sex acts with a dog, while others “of some duration in length” were of Baig performing intercourse with chickens and also, on occasion, with his wife, who filmed some of the footage on a mobile phone.

Sentencing the couple on Monday afternoon, Judge Richard Mansell QC said the acts “would make any right-thinking member of society sick to their stomach” and were carried out for Baig’s “own depraved sexual gratification”.

The judge described Baig’s offending as “depraved, perverted and despicable” and said the creation of the videos was “simply beyond comprehension”.

The court heard that the images showed two of the chickens dead on the cellar floor and another video showed Baig placing one of the deceased animals in a bin bag. He was also filmed having intercourse with a chicken that had already died.

Judge Mansell said: “The pain and suffering you inflicted on these animals must have been horrific.”

Mrs Baig admitted three counts of aiding and abetting sexual intercourse with an animal, but said it was against a background of coercive and controlling behaviour by her husband.

Abigail Langford, prosecuting, said they found her to be a willing participant in the images found at their home, but told the court that a hidden camera had been found in the couple’s bedroom, of which she was unaware.

Langford said the chickens started as family pets and they all died as a consequence of Baig’s actions.

There were no chickens or a dog present at the house when it was searched by police.

Baig admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of possession of extreme pornography, three counts of sexual intercourse with an animal and two counts of possession of controlled drugs.

He was banned from keeping animals and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Mrs Baig’s six-month sentence was suspended for 18 months, with a requirement to attend 20 days rehabilitation. She was placed on sex offenders’ register for seven years.