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A five-year-old boy was bitten by a large dog on the loose - just two months after it attacked a seven-year-old girl.

Susan Parry’s dog Zeus attacked little Alfie Cannons just two months after it pulled Lara Bodour to the ground leaving her with two bleeding puncture wounds.

Parry, had been warned by police after the first incident that she should keep the dog muzzled and on a lead when out in future but did not do so.

Both the children were left wary of dogs after the attacks in Warrington.

Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said that the first incident happened on August 14 last year when David Boyle was with his seven-year-old granddaughter Lara Bodour and his grandson, aged four, in the Tim Parry Park in Great Sankey.

They were starting to walk home after half an hours playing when he saw two women with two dogs about 200 yards away and for no reason one of the dogs, a three-year-old grey Weimaraner suddenly ran towards them.

Mr Hopkins said: “He heard the defendant shouting but the dog did not react and he panicked but before he could do anything it had bitten his granddaughter’s right arm and twisted causing her to fall to the ground.”

The dog, called Zeus, then ran off and Mr Boyle found the little girl had two puncture marks on her arm which were bleeding and after initially going to his home she was taken to hospital.

The defendant went back with him to his home and said, ‘I should dot have let him off the lead’.”

Parry voluntarily went to Penketh police station the next day and reported what had happened and was formally warned that the dog should be muzzled and kept on a lead when out exercising.

On October 25 Alan Jackson was out with two little boys, one of them five-year-old Alfie Cannons. Parry and a friend were out with two dogs. One was on a lead but Zeus was not and was not muzzled.

As the children walked past Zeus started growling and chased after Alfie and bit him on his left arm. The man with Parry helped the boy by taking hold of the dog by the collar.

At hospital it was found that he had suffered two lacerations to the inner and outside of his arm.

Mr Hopkins told the court that fortunately neither of the victims in the two incidents were as seriously injured as they might have been but both children are now nervous of big dogs.

When interviewed by police Parry, of Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, said that the little girl had been running about and screeching but did not think that was why Zeus attacked her and the other victim had also been screeching with his friend.

She admitted she had been warned after the first incident to keep the dog muzzled and on a lead.

Parry, 52, admitted two offences of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.

Sentencing her to three months imprisonment suspended for nine months Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said that although fortuitously neither victim was seriously injured they were significant injuries and they have been left scarred and apprehensive of large dogs.

She told Parry, who kept interrupting to say, “I’m so sorry” that the second offence was the most serious because she had ignored the police advice after the first incident.

Judge Nicholls said: “For whatever reason you decided you knew better and took the risk.

The second incident could have been foreseen because it had happened before in the same sort of circumstances.”

She also told Parry that she accepted she was full of remorse and had voluntarily gone to the police each time. She added that she had read character references on her behalf and that of the dog.

The judge also ordered her to carry out 50 hours unpaid work and to pay each victim £150 compensation. The judge made a contingency destruction order meaning that the dog must be muzzled and on a short lead when out but she decided against banning her from owning a dog.

Harry East, defending, said that Parry, who has no previous convictions, had voluntarily gone to the police after both incidents. She had never previously seen the dog aggressive and it lived with her two young children who regularly had their friends around without any issue.