A JUDGE has ordered that a dog which bit a policeman at a house in Acomb should be put down.

Diamond, a Staffordshire bull terrier cross breed, was being looked after by Gary Thurlwell while its owners Alice Oxtoby and Jordan Caple had accommodation problems, Leeds Crown Court was told.

On January 13, PC Leon Dryden and a PCSO went to Thurlwell’s then address in The Green at the request of another PCSO, looking for a different person.

Austin Newman, prosecuting, said Thurlwell was initially hostile but agreed to let them in. They entered the living area and he then opened the door to another room allowing the dog through.

“The dog seems to have had a history of being aggressive and was subject to a control order issued by York Magistrates in April, 2015 following an incident when it had bitten another dog,” he said.

Initially when Diamond entered the room it was not growling or barking but Thurlwell made a comment “It’s not my fault if the dog bites you.”

He then kicked out at the dog several times he said later trying to control it, but that had the effect of agitating it.

“Something further was shouted by the defendant, it is not clear what was shouted but soon after the dog leapt up on to a sofa and from there was snarling and snapping at the PCSO and jumping up at his face in an apparent attempt to bite him.”

Mr Newman said PC Dryden told Thurlwell to get the dog under control and when he made no attempt to do so, he drew his asp and struck out at the dog to protect him.”

That drew the dog’s attention to him. “The dog jumped at him, latching on to his left forearm and sinking his teeth into the skin.”

That caused puncture wounds to the officer who left the address and called for assistance. The dog’s owners arrived and took it to another address. When another officer called to speak to them there she was told it did not like high visibility jackets.

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Eleanor Fry representing Thurlwell said he accepted he had not acted appropriately but the prosecution had accepted he did not goad the dog.

“He clearly had it in his charge but was trying to stop it initially and later to control it but at that point it had already become wound up.”

“It was a unique set of circumstances, the dog was in charge of someone it was not used to being with, where the situation became heated.”

Thurlwell, 52, of Carr Lane, Acomb, York admitted being in charge of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control and was given a six month prison sentence suspended for two years with a two month electronically monitored curfew from 7.30pm to 4am. No evidence was offered on a charge of assaulting PC Dryden causing him actual bodily harm.

Judge Neil Clark said it was accepted he had not tried to goad the dog but had acted in an inept attempt to stop it going towards the officers when he kicked it. “If you had goaded the dog and the prosecution had not accepted your plea you would have gone to prison for a lengthy period.”

No evidence was offered on a charge of owning a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control against Oxtoby, 20 and Caple, 29, of Lindsay Avenue, Acomb.

The court heard the dog’s owners resisted a destruction order. They had left the dog with Thurlwell who was Oxtoby’s uncle and argued it had only reacted after he had kicked the dog.

But Judge Clark rejected the submission saying it had been previously under a court order after biting another dog and after the incident in January, Caple had told an officer when she called that it could become aggressive because it did not like high visibility clothing. The evidence suggested the dog was a danger and a destruction order would be made.