UK woman jailed for 4 years after dog attacks 12 children

LONDON: A woman whose 'dangerous' dog attacked a group of 12 children in a park has been jailed for four years and banned from keeping dogs for life, British media reported on Tuesday.

The Staffordshire bull terrier bit the children when it escaped from a house in Blyth in May last year, the BBC reported.

At Newcastle Crown Court last month, Claire Neal, 38, of Blyth, admitted owning a dog that was dangerously out of control.

She was jailed for four years and banned from keeping dogs for life, the Metro reported.

Judge Sarah Mallet told Neal: "That dog had, on two previous occasions, bitten children. An order had been made you should have the dog destroyed.

"You ignored that order and made no improvements in arrangements to prevent the dog from injuring others," the judge said.

Neal had initially denied the charge, claiming the dog called Marley, belonged to the courts as there was already a destruction order on the animal after an earlier attack. But, she later changed her plea.

Following the latest attack, the hearing was told how a teenage girl had found Marley in the street as she was playing with friends.

She decided to take the dog home in order for her mother to contact the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

But, as they passed the park in Burns Avenue, the dog got out of control and attacked the children, leaving them needing hospital treatment for puncture wounds.

Neighbours nearby rushed from their homes to help and later managed to tie Marley up.

The dog has since been destroyed.

Police Constable Craig Arkley, of Northumbria Police, said: "This was an extremely frightening incident for the children who were injured when the dog ran amok in a Blyth park last year.

He said the incident has been very upsetting for the large number of families involved and the wider Blyth community who were also concerned about what had happened.

"Perhaps most upsetting of all is the knowledge that this could have been avoided if the dog had been properly restrained and not allowed to get into the park area where children were playing," the police official said.

Dog attacks in England increased by 76 per cent in 10 years and appear to be still rising rapidly in frequency and severity, according to British Health & Social Care Information Centre data, released in 2015.