A YORK couple have been put on a curfew, banned from keeping dogs, and ordered to pay compensation after their pet escaped and attacked two other animals.

Kelly Coxon, 36, and Wayne Martin, 27, both appeared before magistrates in York on Wednesday. They pleaded guilty to owning a dangerously out of control dog and the court heard how their American Bulldog cross Staffordshire Bull Terrier, called Sally, had got loose and attacked two other dogs last year.

The pair will have to pay owners of the other two dogs £300 in compensation each, for the distress and emotional trauma caused by Sally's attacks.

Victoria Waudby, prosecutor for City of York Council, said Sally had got loose from Martin and Coxon's home on Kingsway North first in August, and then again in December.

On the first occasion, Sally attacked a dog called Belle out with her elderly owner, grabbing Belle by the neck and throat. Passers-by - including two council workers - tried to prize Sally off a screaming Belle and even threw a bucket of water over the dogs.

Martin and Coxon were both present for part of the attack, Miss Waudby added, and Coxon in particular was very distressed. One of the council workers injured her hand trying to stop the attack, and Belle the dog was left with injuries to her neck and back and needed vet treatment.

The second attack happened in December, when Sally was once again loose on the street and attacked a dog called Toby. That time, three people tried to intervene and eventually Coxon came out of her home and took her dog by the scruff of the neck. Toby too needed costly vet treatment after the attack.

Less than a fortnight later, Sally was picked up as a stray and taken to the RSPCA. There workers eventually decided she was too aggressive to be rehomed and had the dog put down.

The couple's lawyer Liam Hassan said they accepted they would be banned from having dogs but said there was "a background" to their situation, Coxon and Martin have seven children, and organisations like social services and the family intervention service are already working with them.

They did not use Sally to threaten or intimidate people, he added, and she was only a danger when she got loose. As the dog has already been put down, the risk of repeat offending had gone, Mr Hassan said.

After hearing from a probation worker, magistrates gave Martin and Coxon a four month long 7pm to 7am curfew, and banned them from "ownership, control or custody" of a dog for five years.

They also ordered the pair to pay both of the dog owners £300 compensation.