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Two dogs will be destroyed after their owner left them in his garden while he went to Alton Towers, enabling them to escape out and bite a woman.

Michael Porter had left his American bull dogs, Polly and her son Pablo, in his front garden with just one bolt on the gate - despite a dog warden previously warning him this was insufficient.

They escaped and attacked a Spaniel, leaving the dog’s owner with a puncture wound to her arm when she tried to intervene.

Today a judge gave Porter a suspended prison sentence and ordered that Polly and Pablo be destroyed.

Zillah Williams, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court heard that Margaret Thompson, who is retired, was walking her dog Jess along St John’s Road in Waterloo at 9.30am on April 10 last year when the two bull dogs ran across the road from their home and set on them.

Mrs Thompson flung herself on her pet to protect her and the animal only suffered minor injuries but Mrs Thompson, who was wearing a thick coat, suffered two puncture wounds to her arm. She was dragged on the ground and suffered heavy bruising to her arms and shoulder,

(Image: Lynda Roughley)

Porter, 34, now of Warbreck Road, Orrell Park, denied two offences of possessing dogs which caused injury while dangerously out of control in a public place but was convicted after a trial.

The judge, Recorder David Swinnerton, said: “In my view you have not been looking after yourself properly and I don’t think you are in a proper position to look after dogs.”

The judge said he owned dogs too, and it gave him “no pleasure” to order the destruction of Poppy and Pablo, who have been in police kennels since September. The court heard that the destruction order was mandatory unless it could be shown they did not cause danger to the public.

At the time of the attack Porter had a 15 month suspended sentence hanging over him for drunkenly making racist remarks while on a train home from London - where just hours earlier he had been fined by magistrates for a similar offence.

(Image: Lynda Roughley)

Recorder Swinnerton said that as he had been making good progress while supervised under the suspended sentence order he would not activate the sentence. He imposed ten months imprisonment for the latest offences but suspended it for 18 months.

He also ordered him to carry out 10 days rehabilitation activities and imposed a three month curfew with a tag between 8am and 9pm.

The judge said that Mrs Thompson was still shaking three days after the attack and needed tranquilliser from her GP.

Philip Clemo, defending, said that Porter, who has committed 26 previous offences, has mental health issues but has been responding well to the supervision order from his last offence and completed the alcohol treatment programme despite finding it difficult.