Clare Breen, 31, was accused of being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control and bit teenage girl Lucinda McGrath when it got loose in Lund Park, Keighley, last summer.
A three-day trial heard that Breen was walking two dogs, the American bulldog Becky, and a mastiff-Labrador cross called Jerry on July 29, 2012, when she slipped and fell on wet grass cuttings.
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| The jury didn't believe the victim whose dog was attacked and mauled to death. |
Leeds Crown Court heard that Miss McGrath, 16, was walking by and stopped to ask if Breen was okay. But the two disagree on what happened next.
Breen said Becky, who she described in court as “a big soft lump that just wants to be cuddled”, slipped her collar and was “prancing” about wanting to play.
But Miss McGrath said the white dog had jumped and bitten her. She went to Airedale Hospital that night complaining she had been bitten by a dog and was X-rayed and given a tetanus jab.
Breen said she was trying to tie Jerry to a bin, so she was free to get Becky back on her lead, when Jerry lunged and grabbed Miss McGrath’s Springer Spaniel, Ted.
The court heard that Ted suffered horrific injuries and was left “with his belly and intestines hanging out.” He was put to sleep that night.
Defending, Michael Collis suggested Miss McGrath’s injury may have been caused when she was trying to separate the two dogs.
The night of the attack, Breen sent Jerry back to the rescue home she had got him from five months earlier and Becky stayed with her.
Becky was removed by West Yorkshire Police four days after the attack, the court heard, to test her breed after there were suggestions the dogs may be pit bull terriers. The dogs have not been returned.
Judge Scott Wolstenholme said to the jury: “You’ve got pictures (of the dogs) and they are not pit bulls. This case is not about pit bulls which are dangerous dogs and banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.”
Breen was found not guilty, but a lesser charge, of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place, was put to Breen regarding Jerry’s attack on Ted.
Judge Wolstenholme sat as a District Judge to take the guilty plea. The crime is usually dealt with by magistrates.
Breen, of Malsis Crescent, Keighley, will be sentenced for that charge on Monday at Leeds Crown Court.
The court heard she has no previous convictions.
(Telegraph and Argus - April 5, 2013)
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