A WOMAN whose dog savaged a puppy to death at Sale Water Park has been found not guilty of having a dog acting dangerously.

Christine Miller, 29, of Longley Lane, Northern Moor, was acquitted at Trafford Magistrates Courts after her cross-bred bull terrier bitch, Bruno, attacked an eight month old Yorkshire terrier belonging to Lorraine Marsh of Arnesby Avenue, Sale.

The incident happened at the park on the evening of July 24 last year. The puppy, called Ivy, died from its injuries the following day.

Mrs Marsh appealed to SUM readers to come forward with information. Eye-witness Christine Ince had made a note of Miller's car's registration number, and passed it on to police after seeing the article.

Miller admitted that her dog was responsible for the attack. But she pleaded not guilty to the charge, which requires that the dog posed a threat to people as well as animals.

Mrs Marsh said the bull terrier approached Ivy and sniffed her, before biting her leg. She said she then started screaming for help and kicked the dog.

When it let go, she said she picked Ivy up, but the bull terrier jumped up and bit the puppy by the stomach. It then started shaking it around on the ground.

Mrs Marsh claimed that the dog's owner sat and watched as the attack happened, only intervening when it was too late.

Christine Ince said: "I was worried about intervening because I thought the dog would bite my hand, but I was also wondering why the owner was not helping.

"She intervened eventually, but there was too long a delay."

Miller claimed that there was only one bite, and she said she got up to help straight away. She said Bruno had never done anything like this before, and had just gone for the puppy as if it was a rat.

She said: "I was pretty disgusted with myself for what my dog had done. I was devastated."

Alexandra Simmonds, prosecuting, said the dog was out of control and posed a threat to people.

She said: "Mrs Marsh considered sending her daughter to get help, but was worried that the dog would attack her. She contacted the newspaper because she was concerned that it would attack children if it was not caught."

But David Abbott, defending, said: "This was an unfortunate incident, but that does not make it a crime.

"It only went for the dog. Nobody in the area was bitten, and nobody felt the need to move away. This was just two dogs fighting, although it was an uneven fight."

After the verdict, Mrs Marsh said: "I'm shocked. This doesn't protect the public. I'm going to go to the Citizens' Advice Bureau to see what we can do now."

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