Heather Fountain, 76, says she is too afraid to walk her dog Milly during the day since the attack.
Heather was walking on grassland next to St Christopher Primary School in March when a Staffordshire bull terrier clamped its jaws onto the spaniel’s neck.
The attack left the ten-year-old dog with a torn ear and deep bite wounds to her neck and legs.
The unprovoked attack was only stopped when neighbours heard Heather screaming. Two men ran out and hit the dog with sticks.
The case against the Staffordshire bull terrier’s owner went before Coventry Magistrates Court on June 12 but has now been stopped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Heather, of Overdale Road, Whoberley, says this was because the dog did not attack her.
When the Telegraph reported the original story of the attack in March, West Midlands Police insisted prosecutions could be made for dog-on-dog attacks – if a person “felt threatened or in danger”.
Heather said: “They had a confession, they had interviewed witnesses who had come to my rescue. But in the end it was decided that it didn’t come under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The owner had the dog off the lead and had no control over it. He didn’t even try to control it, he just walked off and left me with it.
“The area used to be really well used by dog walkers but you rarely ever see anyone down there anymore.”
Heather is now afraid to walk her dog when there may be other people around and says she has been left isolated.
“I used to take her out three times-a-day but now I only take her out once early in the morning when there’s no one else around,” she said.
Coun Dan Howells (Whoberley, Lab) said: “It seems like a real injustice that Heather has had to go through such emotional turmoil and financial cost for something that could have been so easily avoided.”
The Crown Prosecution Service was unavailable to comment.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “We will always follow up allegations where crimes are committed.
“Ultimately we must present the evidence we have to the CPS who will then decide whether to pursue charges.”
(Coventry Telegraph - July 23, 2012)
