A dog called Bruiser which caused “horrendous” injuries when it attacked a postman delivering mail in Meltham is to be destroyed.

And the man in charge of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross when the attack took place was today sentenced to a nine-month community order and told to pay £100 to its victim.

Kirklees Magistrates Court in Huddersfield heard how postman Jack Park-Paul held bundles of mail out in front of him to distract the dog as it attacked while he was on his rounds in Golcar Brow Road on July 22 last year and how neighbours rushed to his aid after hearing his screams as Bruiser bit into his forearm and forced him to the ground.

Adam Shaw, 39, of Copley Avenue, Meltham, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to being in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control.

Magistrates had adjourned the January 6 hearing as they were considering making a destruction order which needed the owner of the dog’s attendance. The owner, John Carmody, was in court to hear the magistrates make their decision.

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Prosecutor Andy Wills said Shaw and Mr Carmody had been living at the same address for 10 months with Bruiser and Shaw’s two Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Mr Carmody went on holiday leaving Shaw as keeper of Bruiser in his absence.

On the day of the attack, Mr Park-Paul noticed Bruiser barking at him with his front legs over a garden gate.

As Mr Park-Paul was sorting letters he heard the gate rattle and saw the dog bounding towards him.

He held a bundle of mail out hoping to distract the dog but the dog jumped up and locked its grip on his right forearm, knocking the postman down. In significant pain, he was unable to free his arm and the dog would not let go.

Golcar Brow Road

The postman started screaming for help and several neighbours came to try to help him. One person hit the dog with the blunt side of a shovel, but the dog only bit down more forcefully. It was only when the sharp end was used that the dog let go.

Neighbours used a towel to stem the blood from Mr Park-Paul’s arm and used a belt as a tourniquet. He was given morphine by paramedics and taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary’s plastic surgery department.

Defending, Anastasi Tasou said the dog had been in Shaw’s living room for the past 10 months and there had been no incidents of any kind. It had never jumped over the gate and the only time it had got out was when the gate was accidentally left open and on that occasion it had not attacked anyone.

He said Shaw was unaware of an incident in 2013 when Bruiser attacked a postman on private property.

“This incident could not have been foreseen,” said Mr Tasou. “He (Shaw) did not know the dog had previously injured someone.”

Mr Tasou said when Shaw heard the screams he immediately went to help and did all he could to inflict pain on the dog to make him let go. Mr Park-Paul had said the dog had seemed to fly into the air during the attack, which was the result of Shaw kicking it in the chest.

“He is to be commended in doing what he did,” said Mr Tasou.

At the hearing Shaw also pleaded guilty to a separate offence of theft which happened two days before Christmas when he stole six bottles of spirits worth £137 from Morrisons at Waterloo. On his arrest, he admitted to six other similar thefts from shops.

Mr Tasou said Shaw has been addicted to class A drugs since 2001 – an addiction stemming from the death of his mother. Since 2010 he had also lost two brothers and his father. He now wanted to get rid of his addiction once and for all.