Last updated 16:04, Wednesday, 27 August 2008

A DOG may have to be put down after it escaped from its garden and bit a passer-by.

Percy Seddon was walking home when he was bitten twice on the leg by the Alsatian/collie cross, named Ozzie.

And after the dog’s owner, John Moore, 23, of Greenmoor Road, Egremont, was found guilty last week of owning a dog that was out of control and caused injury, magistrates now have to decide whether or not to order the destruction of the dog when they sentence Moore on September 26.

The court heard that it was the second time the dog had bitten someone.

Presiding magistrate Pat Routledge told Moore: “Unless we receive positive feedback on what has been done about the dog, then a destruction order will be made.”

On the day of the attack, the dog had been let out of the house by Moore to clean itself in the garden and the defendant had gone inside to make a cup of tea. While Moore was inside, the dog ran out of the garden and over a small wall and attacked Mr Seddon who was on the pavement.

“As I walked past, the dog jumped over the wall and bit me,” Mr Seddon told the court. “I thought the dog was after my tea which I was carrying in my hand, but it was after me.”

The bite drew blood from Mr Seddon’s leg and he called the police and later returned to the scene with an officer to identify the dog. He added that there were a number of youths in the garden at the time of the attack, and told the court that they were “winding up” the animal.

Moore, who didn’t witness the bite, had denied the offence on the grounds that he was not responsible for the dog as it belonged to his girlfriend at the time of the incident on January 20.

His solicitor, Ian Nancollis, argued that there was no case to answer. “There is insufficient evidence of ownership to convict my client. Three people live at that address with the dog and it is not accepted that my client is the dog’s owner,” he said.

However, in finding the defendant guilty, magistrates ruled that Moore was the dog’s joint-owner and was responsible for its behaviour.