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A terrified pensioner was seriously injured when a dog bit her during a savage attack.

Jane Montgomery was attending St Michael’s Medical Centre in Dumfries when the Staffordshire Terrier cross lunged at her, ripping into her arm.

The 73-year-old struck her head on a glass door during the struggle before falling to the ground with the dog on top of her.

Horrified staff and patients at the practice tried to help her as she lay on the floor.

She said: “I was screaming. I thought it was going to eat me.”

A 62-year-old woman who tried to help Mrs Montgomery was also bitten.

But by the time police arrived at the scene, the dog and its owner, Stuart Macneillie, had disappeared.

Mrs Montgomery, who is recovering from an operation after being diagnosed with cancer, was about to head home after seeing her doctor when the attack took place on Monday morning.

She said: “I first saw the dog in the chemist next door and it was barking and barking. I felt scared.

“When it later attacked me, people rushed to help.

“The doctor phoned my son to come and take me to hospital instead of getting an ambulance.”

Mrs Montgomery was treated for serious injuries to her arms before being allowed home.

She added: “My husband Norman was really upset about what happened.

“I’m having trouble sleeping and I still feel sick thinking about it.”

Thirty-four-year-old Macneillie was arrested by police on Wednesday after the animal struck again, this time turning on Dumfries town centre police constable Alistair Hope.

The dog leapt on the officer in Buccleuch Street and attacked him. PC Hope was taken to Dumfries Infirmary for treatment to wounds on his legs.

The animal was later put down and Macneillie, of McKie Avenue in Dumfries, was arrested and locked up before appearing at the town’s sheriff court yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to being the owner of the “dangerously out of control” dog and admitted it had growled and lunged in an aggressive manner at the medical centre, placing people in a state of fear and alarm, injuring Mrs Montgomery to her severe injury and permanent disfigurement, biting the 62-year-old and biting PC Hope.

His solicitor told the court he’d only had the dog for a “very short time”.

He was released on bail until October 11 but Sheriff George Jamieson warned him: “This is a very serious matter.”