TWO owners of the dog responsible for a series of vicious attacks on other dogs in York have been jailed.

York magistrates ordered their pet, a white American bulldog called Milo, to be put down and banned them from having or caring for any other dogs for the next ten years.

Chris Boxall, prosecuting for City of York Council, said the bulldog savaged a rescue dog called Wendy in Spurriergate during shopping hours on October 13, and injured her so badly she had had to have at least two operations.

On June 5, the bulldog grabbed a dog by the head and neck and bit its leg in Wains Road, Dringhouses.

One of its owners, Storm Elliott, 19, gave false identity details at the scene of another attack when Milo injured a small dog in Moorcroft Road, Woodthorpe, on May 15.

York Press:

Witnesses to that attack on a Jack Russell told The Press afterwards the bulldog had also grabbed it by the neck and head and “ragged it around until it stopped screeching and went floppy.”

Both Elliott and Darren Linsdell, 30, who live together in Wains Road, Dringhouses, told police the dog had been trained to fight other dogs by its previous owner, and failed to attend court hearings to take responsibility for their dog’s actions.

Elliott was jailed for six months after admitting three charges of failing to control her dog and Linsdell was jailed for 16 weeks after admitting one charge of failure to keep a dog under control and breaching a community order imposed in May. Both admitted failure to attend court.

Both were banned from keeping dogs for the next ten years and each was ordered to pay £311.74 towards the vets’ bills paid by the owners of the savaged dogs. Neither opposed an application for Milo to be put down, though they tried to stop the banning order.

Elliott admitted three charges of failure to control a dangerous dog, Linsdell admitted one and breaching a community order imposed for other offences. Both admitted failure to attend court on September 14.

For them, Liam Hassan said Elliott was shocked by the nature of the attacks and had tried to stop two of them.

“These are two people who care very much for this dog, but simply cannot control it,” he said. “There is no malice here.”

They had not used the dog as a weapon and were working with various organisations and together to tackle their personal problems.