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A judge jailed the owner of a dangerous dog and ordered its destruction after it savaged a four year old girl on the face and 'virtually bit her nose off.'

Nathan Wylam, 30, of Swindon Road, Cheltenham, broke down in tears in the dock at Gloucester Crown Court on Friday as the judge told him he was passing the death sentence on Staffy/Lurcher cross 'Fraser.'

Wylam then became even more distraught as Recorder Frank Abbott told him he had to go to prison for six months because the offence was too serious for anything other than immediate custody.

The court heard that Fraser had bitten two people in the space of two weeks - first a 17 year old supermarket worker on 5th April this year then the four year old girl on April 19th.

Wylam admitted two offences of having a dog dangerously out of control which caused injury.

Prosecutor Greg Gordon said that on April 5 Wylam went into Waitrose in Cheltenham and left Fraser tethered to a post outside.

The 17 year old member of staff was emptying coffee grounds outside the store and saw Fraser 'wagging his tail and looking friendly.'

"She went to stroke it, cautiously, with the back of her hand," the prosecutor said. "The dog responded immediately without any warning and snapped at her, causing injury to her hand.

"It drew a significant amount of blood and punctured the skin on both sides of her middle finger. She went back into Waitrose and received first aid before being taken to A&E.

"A week later she fainted and she feels that may have been due to the trauma of this incident."

Mr Gordon said Wylam was not made aware of that incident for some time but certainly knew of it by 19th April when he invited a woman friend and her two children to dinner at his home.

"After dinner, and while the children were playing with the dog, he revealed to the mother that it had bitten a member of staff at Waitrose. This caused concern to the mother, who immediately decided to remove the children from the vicinity because of the danger.

"Unfortunately, the revelation was too late because on the way out of the flat the 4 year old girl went to pat the dog and it lashed out and bit her very severely on the face.

"The little girl was screaming and there was a lot of blood. The defendant called emergency services and said she had fallen on her face but the mother could be heard in the background saying 'tell the truth.'

"The little girl has been left with a 2" scar under her eye. Her septum was severed - it was cut open. She had to have two operations under general anaesthetic."

Wylam was issued with a removal order and when officials went to collect the dog they found it running free in a communal hallway, the prosecutor said.

In a victim impact statement the Waitrose worker said she is now wary about other peoples' dogs as Fraser had shown no sign of aggression.

"I have had nightmares - the incident has affected me more than I realised," she said. "A week after it happened I felt very sick and just passed out. I feel it could have been the shock still coming out."

The mother of the injured four year old stated "The shock of seeing my daughter in the state she was in after the attack was unbelievable.

"She had blood over everything. I was crying and so was she. She will be scarred for life.

"I could not stop my nine year old daughter screaming at what she had witnessed.

"It was as if the dog had taken the whole of my little girl's face and her nose was just hanging off.

"My other children could not believe what she had gone through. They were all so shocked and upset."

The court heard evidence from dog behaviour experts who suggested that the future risk could be covered by Fraser being muzzled when outdoors and kept in a crate inside the flat if anyone visited.

Probation officer Neil Hewitt, in a report to the court, said Wylam, who runs a catering business, was very shocked by what Fraser had done and devastated that a child had been injured. He recognised that the effect on the little girl was likely to be far-reaching, he said.

Giles Nelson, defending, urged the court not to pass the death sentence on Fraser.

"My client is devoted to the dog," he said. "He walks it three times a day, mainly on the old Honeybourne Railway line."

But Recorder Abbott said the dog had to be destroyed because it remained a danger - seeming to be friendly and then suddenly becoming aggressive. He could not see any way that the risk could be completely eliminated, he said.

Jailing Wylam for six months the judge said he knew perfectly well by 19th April that Fraser was dangerous but he had nevertheless exposed the mum and her two children to risk when they visited while the dog was unmuzzled and free in the flat.

"People who have possession of dogs of this kind have an almost sacred responsibility to look after them so they are not a threat to young children," said Recorder Abbott.

"This dog virtually bit the little girl's nose off."