Ten men have been convicted for their involvement with an organised dog fight which took place at a Birmingham kitchen appliance store.

They had all denied attending the illegal event in Alum Rock which led to the death of two pit bulls in February last year.

One of the men said he thought the dog fight was in fact a blues party, and another said he had consumed too much drugs and alcohol to be aware that the event was taking place.

District Judge Kal Qureshi, sitting at Birmingham Magistrates' Court, found five men guilty of attending the fight and five others guilty of the same offence and more serious offences following a three-week trial. He issued fines ranging between £750 and £1,400 to the five men found guilty of just one offence.

The other five defendants were remanded on bail for sentence at the same court in October, along with two other men who admitted several offences prior to the trial. Mr Qureshi told the men who will be sentenced next month that the offences they had committed crossed the custody threshold.

"Custody certainly is at the forefront of my mind, but I want to see reports before a final decision is made," the magistrate said. Further charges the defendants are to be sentenced for include possessing a pit bull, causing two dogs to fight and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Fourteen other men were fined between £500 and £1,300 on September 4 after pleading guilty to attending the "sadistic" fight, which lasted for at least 90 minutes.

The trial was told that the event was staged in a kitchen showroom on Alum Rock Road, and inflicted "unimaginable" pain and suffering on the dogs.

Graphic video footage shown during the trial revealed that the owners of the terriers, named Bullet and Elvis, encouraged the animals to fight by shouting and clapping.

Squeals of pain and phrases such as "shake him" and "come on boy" could be heard on the videos as the dogs bit each other so badly that one was left covered in blood with barely any hair around its face.

Both animals were found seriously injured and bleeding heavily when police raided the showroom after hearing noises coming from the premises. One dog, which had been pushed up into ceiling tiles in an attempt to hide it, died a few hours later and the other was so badly injured he had to be put down 48 hours later.

A carpeted fighting pit - created by arranging kitchen units and desks - was found in the premises, along with a stereo, medical kits, an electronic treadmill and a portable kennel.

Finding the men guilty, Mr Qureshi ruled that all ten who denied attending the fight had been present at it for at least 25 minutes. Two of the men, Barkat Hussain and Ummar Ahmed, claimed that they went to the showroom to attend a blues party despite the fact that a single can of cola was the only beverage found on the premises.

During the trial Ahmed, who found guilty of attending the fight and keeping premises for dog fighting, claimed that he believed the fighting pit had been constructed as a dancefloor by other individuals, an assertion which Mr Qureshi also rejected.

He also claimed to have been too high on drugs and alcohol to be aware that the event was taking place.