A MOTHER of three whose cross-bred Japanese Akita/German Shepherd bit a young girl and her mother during an attack in a Deighton street has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Polish single mum Anna Dudek, 29, was told that she would be in serious trouble if the pet ever got out again and bit a child or another human being.

Recorder Richard Mansell QC could have order the immediate destruction of the dog, but after being told that the mother of the injured girl did not want it to be killed he instead imposed a suspended destruction order on the animal.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that since the incident outside Dudek’s home in Whiteacre Close in April a new fence more than two metres high had been put up around her property and a broken lock on her gate had been fixed.

The mother and her daughter, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were confronted by the dog which was aggressive, barking and snapping.

During the tea-time incident the animal jumped up at the victims and knocked them both to the ground.

Prosecutor David McGongial described how the mother saw her daughter run off pursued by the dog.

“It jumped on her and caused her to fall to the ground,'' he told the court.

“The dog then bit the young girl on her forehead.”

When the tried to stop the dog attacking her daughter she was bitten on the arm.

The defendant came out of her home and tried to control the dog, which was not wearing a collar, but it broke free and ran into a nieghbour’s garden.

Another resident then brought out a dog lead which was used to take the animal back to Dudek’s house.

The girl suffered a small puncture wound to her forehead and her mother was also taken to hospital with a bite mark to her elbow.

Last month Dudek, who had no previous convictions, admitted being the owner of a dog which caused injury while being dangerously out of control in a public place.

Her barrister Richard Clews said she was sorry for what happened and now accepted her responsibility for it.

He urged Recorder Mansell not to have the dog destroyed pointing out that since the incident, which he said was an isolated one-off, the fence at the house had been heightened and the gate secured.

Mr Clews said happily the injuries suffered were minor and there had been no other incidents since.

Recorder Mansell told Dudek that she was the owner of a very big and potentially dangerous dog and added: “Having such a dog carries with it responsibilities because dogs like that are liable to feel threatened by people coming up or near the house particularly if they don't know them.

“On this day you singularly failed to keep your dog under proper control. The dog was not on a lead.

“He was not locked inside the house and the fence that you had around your property and the gate on which the lock was broken were woefully inadequate.”

He said the two victims were wholly innocent and the dog had bitten the young girl only a matter of inches from her eye. It was pure luck that the little girl was not bitten more badly particularly near her eye,” added Recorder Mansell.

He sentenced Dudek to eight weeks in jail, suspended for two years and ordered her to do 80 hours unpaid work for the community.

She will also have to pay a token compensation award of £100 to her victims.

Recorder Mansell also imposed a suspended destruction order on the dog with a series of conditions including an order that it must be on a lead at all times when not at Dudek’s house.

The fence around her home must also be a minimum of two metres high and her gate must be kept locked at all times.