£850 court bill after XL Bully cross dog leapt gate and knocked child onto Oswestry road

On TuesdayNicola Pashby, who was looking after the animal for her son, admitted being the person in charge of a dog which was out of control and caused injury.

Pashby, 46, of College Road, Oswestry, was ordered to pay £500 compensation to the injured woman along with fines and costs totalling £353.

Magistrates warned that if anything similar happened again it was likely to lead to a destruction order for the dog.

"We are not imposing a muzzling order but it would be very sensible if the dog was muzzled for it's own sake," magistrates said.

Charlotte Morgan, prosecuting, said Pashby had been looking after the dog, an XL Bully cross Johnson, for her son at her home in College Road, Oswestry on September 1 last year.

The dog was out in the front garden when it leapt over a waist high gate, as a woman, with her two daughters, were walking past with a sausage dog.

The woman picked up the sausage dog and the XL Bully cross then leapt up at her pulling at her clothes. It also knocked one of her daughters onto the road.

A passer-by pulled the dog away and managed to get it back into the garden.

Miss Morgan said the woman suffered bruising to her arm and added that her two daughters were now too scared to go out walking with their dog.

Lorraine McClure, representing Pashby, said that the dog belonged to her client's son but she had been in charge of it at the time.

She could not go after the dog when it jumped the gate as she is unsteady on her feet as an amputee Ms McClure said.

The three-year-old dog had never behaved in such a way before and had always been gentle with members of the family, she added.

Magistrates said this had been a distressing incident for all concerned.

"You are not the owner of the dog and you were doing your son a favour. You were not aware of what the dog was capable of," magistrates said.

"If it happened again there it is likely to mean a destruction order for the dog."