Judge orders Chesterfield woman’s Staffordshire Bull Terrier be destroyed after attack

Recorder Adrian Reynolds told Tracy Coleman the dog’s destruction was “the only appropriate course to take” and it was “beyond argument” following the March 8 incident.

Derby Crown Court heard today how Coleman’s “powerful” dog Buster had been involved in an “identical” attack in 2017 and had been subject of a muzzling order ever since.

However on March 8 Buster - who was on a lead “but could not be controlled” - bit another dog named Jasper on Valley Road.

The other dog’s owner was able to rescue his pet - however it suffered a number of bites requiring stitches and he received cuts to his hand.

Recorder Reynolds noted Coleman - who he described as a “decent woman” - did “everything she could to stop the attack”.

However he added: “A Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a powerful dog and this defendant did not have the physical strength to bring the attack to an end”.

The judge told Coleman, who was denied legal aid and had no representation, he was “puzzled” as to why she would want a Staffordshire Bull Terrier as a pet.

He said: “In 2017 her dog was involved in an incident in which it was dangerously out of control.

“A contingency destruction order was made and a condition was that the dog must be muzzled in public.

“She tells me she abided by the order in every other occasion apart from this night.”

However Recorder Reynolds added that the March 8 attack caused “extremely unpleasant injuries which required treatment at the vets.”

He said: “It’s an overwhelming case that the dog in question be destroyed - sad as it undoubtedly is.

“In view of the fact that she acknowledges taking the dog out that night without a muzzle I cannot regard her as fit to keep animals.”

Coleman, of Valley Road, Spital, admitted being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury.

As well as making an order for Buster to be put down, the judge banned her from keeping animals for five years.

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