Reprieve for dog Milly who bit postie as owner learns contro

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Reprieve for dog Milly who bit postie as owner learns control

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A DOG which magistrates said should be put down has been handed a reprieve by a judge.

Milly the German shepherd was ordered to be destroyed after magistrates in Torquay were told it had twice been dangerously out of control.

Owner Giulia Matthews appeared at Exeter Crown Court to appeal against the death sentence.

At a previous hearing in March Matthews pleaded guilty to failure to comply with a dog control order, having a dog dangerously out of control, and breaching a conditional discharge imposed for a dangerous dog offence.



The court was told how a dog control order was made against Matthews in June last year after Milly bit a postman, and a conditional discharge was imposed.

The order said Milly had to be muzzled and on a lead in public, muzzled when with children, and with a condition Milly should be destroyed if the controls were broken.

On September 28 last year a dog was attacked in Bilberry Hill Woods, Buckfastleigh, by a free-running, but muzzled Milly. It was only the muzzle which prevented injury to the other pet.

Matthews, 47, of Glebelands, Buckfastleigh, said she did not see the other dog at the time.

Magistrates told her the breach meant Milly had to be destroyed.

At the appeal in Exeter Recorder Nicholas Hall, sitting with two justices, heard how Matthews had sought professional advice in how to train the dog.

"We are satisfied there would be no danger to public safety if the conditions of the control order are properly complied with," he said.

He said 'with some hesitation' the court believed Matthews could be trusted to comply with the order.

The appeal was allowed and the destruction order revoked.