Danger dog put down after attack on child

A WOMAN was ordered to pay £1,200 compensation after her dog bit a 10-year-old child.

Lynn Bell (48) of Wilson Way, Oldham, pleaded guilty to allowing her dog to be dangerously out of control and cause injury.

Oldham magistrates also ordered that the cross Staffordshire bull terrier/pitbull called Tiggs be destroyed after the child was left with two puncture wounds in her upper right arm.

Jackie Stott, prosecuting, said the dog had escaped from the house and on to the street when Bell was putting out her rubbish.

It started running towards two girls, aged 10 and four, who were on the road.

The younger girl started screaming while the older child tried to put herself between the pair but was bitten on the arm.

Ms Bell was heard shouting at her dog, and tried to intervene but Tiggs started running after the younger girl and knocked her over.

After the incident, the dog was recovered and taken to a Greater Manchester Police kennel, where it has now been kept since August, at a cost of £15 per night.

Kennel staff found they had to use two muzzles on the dog in order to examine it.

A police officer said the dog had tried to attack him and had it not been for the muzzle, believed he would have been bitten.

Stephen Kribbs, defending, questioned whether the dog was classed as a dangerous dog and whether it should have been seized from its owner at all. He said that his client had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Joe Simon, chairman of the magistrates bench, said: “We have taken into account that you have no previous convictions and that you did all you could after the incident to get the dog under control.

“We are a nation of animal lovers but that comes at a cost of the owner. It is imperative we keep them under control — in this case the dog was not.”

Bell was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.