A DOG owner whose animals terrorised a quiet country lane has been banned from keeping pets for ten years.

Michael Cipriano also faces a £1,200 court bill for his second breach of an order to keep his dog Rocky, a Rottweiler or a Dobermann, under proper control.

Earlier this year, 35 villagers signed a petition calling for action against the 42-year-old owner. They said his two dogs scared them so much they dared not walk past his home in Manor Barn, Holtby.

Today dog wardens from City of York Council were trying to sort out the animals' future after winning the ten-year ban from York magistrates at their second attempt.

Liz Levett, prosecuting for the council, told the court it could have the dogs rehoused.

Cipriano was not in court to hear the magistrates make the ban and fine him £600 with £600 prosecution costs. He was believed to be working in Jersey.

Last month he was convicted in his absence of breaching an order made by York magistrates in July 1998 to keep Rocky under control.

On September 5, magistrates refused to disqualify Cipriano from owning pets after hearing how Rocky attacked a dog as its owner, Sally Arnup, was walking it past Manor Barn in March 2002. At that hearing, Cipriano was fined £300 with £200 court costs.

Mrs Levett told magistrates yesterday that on May 26, Rocky jumped out of the Ciprianos' garden and attacked a dog so violently he knocked its owner down and had to be beaten off with a stick.

The council officer said Cipriano no longer lived at Holtby and had given an address in Hull Road at an earlier hearing. But the dogs were still at Manor Barn with his wife and children.

Dog wardens intended to visit the Cipriano family to discuss the dogs' future. If no one was prepared to accept responsibility for the dogs, then the council could step in and have them rehoused, she said.

The council intends to have the order to keep Rocky under control transferred to its new owner.

Updated: 11:22 Friday, December 13, 2002