A couple feared for their daughter’s life as two out-of-control pitbull-type dogs tried to tear their pet husky to pieces.

The terrifying 15-minute attack on one-year-old Buddy ended only after his owner Liam Clarke, 23, bravely intervened, using all his strength to prise apart the jaws of one of the dogs as they clamped on Buddy’s throat.

Just three months earlier, the same two dogs had savaged another family’s pet, leaving it seriously injured.

With his body covered in puncture wounds, Buddy was given a 50-50 chance of surviving. He has now made a full recovery.

Mr Clarke and his then partner, Francesca Jardine, 20, said they only just managed to stop one of the pitbull-type dogs from getting into their Charles Street home, off Botchergate, where their two-year-old daughter Ruby was playing.

Had one of the frenzied dogs got into the house the toddler could have been killed, said Ruby’s parents.

At the city’s magistrates court, 52-year-old Frank Richey, the owner of the two dogs – called Ripper and Stone – was convicted of two offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

He had denied owning dogs which were dangerously out of control in a public place but he failed to turn up for his trial and was convicted in his absence.


Dogs' previous attack

Just two weeks before his dogs savaged Buddy, Frank Richey was prosecuted over a similar attack.


Frank RicheyIt had involved his same two dogs, Ripper and Stone, which had turned on another dog after escaping from the garden of the home in Botcherby where Richey was living at the time, a court heard.

Sandra Connor was walking her Jack Russell shih tzu cross Molly when Richey's dogs cornered them, Stone seizing the smaller dog in his jaws.

After Molly broke free, Ms Connor grabbed her pet, as the two pit bull type dogs circled and leapt at her, intent on continuing the attack.

Molly suffered significant injures and needed extensive veterinary treatment, the court heard.

Richey admitted that his dogs were dangerously out of control in a public place. He was fined £150, and told to pay £453 in compensation.

Stone and Ripper were made subject to an order that meant they had to wear a muzzle and be kept on a lead when in any public place.

Any breach of that order was likely to result in the dogs' being destroyed.


His friend Georgina Davidson, 39, of Howe Street, Carlisle, who was supervising the dogs for him on the day of the attack, also denied wrongdoing, but she too was convicted after a two-hour trial.

Magistrates issued an arrest warrant for Richey, who is facing a bill for £8,000 to cover kennelling costs for his pets.

His two dogs now also face the likelihood that the court will order their destruction. 

Prosecutor Neil White described how Richey at the time lived next door to Miss Jardine and Mr Clarke.

He said Richey had claimed there was an agreement between the neighbours that the husky and his two dogs should not to be allowed out into the shared rear yard at the same time.

But on April 15 last year, Davidson, who claimed to be unaware of the agreement, let the two pitbull-type dogs out into the yard while Buddy was there.

In a statement, factory worker Mr Clarke said that he had been in bed after working a night shift when at 11.20am family friend Katie Raphael burst into the bedroom, and shouted: “They’ve got him – they’ve got him.”

“Just looking at her face, I knew something was wrong,” he said.

Clearly distressed, she explained that Richey’s two dogs were attacking Buddy in the yard, the court heard.

“I could hear Buddy howling,” said Mr Clarke, who rushed out of the house. In the yard, he was confronted by a horrifying spectacle: Ripper with his jaws locked on to Buddy’s throat, and the other dog savaging the husky’s hind quarters.

Mr Clarke battled to get the dogs off his pet, at one point being bitten on the arm as he struggled to force apart Ripper’s jaws.

At the time, he said, neither of the pitbull-type dogs was wearing a collar, which would have made it easier to drag them off.

A neighbour also tried to help after hearing the sound of frantic screaming. He said: “One dog had Buddy by the throat, and the other by his back end, his jaws clamped on him.

If those dogs had got our little girl, she wouldn’t have stood a chance

“They were shaking their heads violently.

“I hit and kicked the dogs, throwing water over them.

“I even picked up a piece of wood and hit one of them over the head but it had no effect whatsoever.”

Terrified and powerless to defend himself, Buddy could only lie flat and limp on the ground, said the witness.

After the neighbour and Mr Clarke finally got Ripper and Stone off Buddy, the husky was left covered in blood from 20 puncture wounds. They quickly carried him back inside.

“We struggled to keep the pitbull-type dogs back – but they were still trying to get at Buddy,” he said. “They were totally out of control and vicious. Buddy’s female owner had only just enough time to pick him up and carry him back into the house.

“We then had to let go of [Ripper and Stone] and they instantly turned on each other. They were ripping each other to bits. It was absolutely horrific and distressing.”

Mr Clarke added: “I was totally shocked and upset by what happened.

“They were going to rip my dog to death. I honestly thought he was dead. This should not have happened. Those dogs were totally out of control. If that had been my daughter she wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

After the attack, Richey approached him and offered to pay the vet’s bill but he tried to play down what had happened, said Mr Clarke. He claimed his dogs would never bite a human.

Mr Clarke added: “We should not have to live in fear.”

As he cuddled Buddy, he added: “I had to use all my strength to force that dog’s jaws apart.

“Afterwards, my hands were covered in blood. I didn’t think about what I did. I just wanted to save our dog.

“I was literally wrestling that dog to the floor.

“At the time his dog was already on a control order after what happened earlier, and they should have had a muzzle on. Thinking of it now, the worst thing was the thought of what they could have done to Ruby.”

Miss Jardine said: “It was just horrible to see that happen.

“The man from over the road was holding one of the dogs back as we brought Buddy in and at the time Ruby was in the kitchen.

“The dog tried to run into our kitchen and I only just slammed the door shut.

“If those dogs had got our little girl, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

Georgina Davidson was fined £180, and given costs of £300 and a £20 victim surcharge.

The arrest warrant for Richie, formerly of Charles Street, yesterday remained outstanding.


Dangerous Dogs Act

The Dangerous Dogs Act should be overhauled to focus more on owners who keep aggressive dogs as a status symbol or a weapon, says the RSPCA.

The animal welfare charity said that the current Act is too vague and has operated alongside an increase in dangerous dogs since it came into force in 1991.

The comment came after new guidelines were sent to police and local authorities. The RSPCA wants more checks on owners and stiffer penalties for people mistreating dogs or keeping them for criminal use.

Figures from the NHS show that the number of dog attacks had tripled since 1991, with many attacks have been blamed on cross-bred dogs which are not illegal.

The figures show that in 2008, there were 3,800 dogs attacks every year.

David Grant of the RSPCA said the situation was “out of control” and worse than before the Act came in.

The Dangerous Dogs Act bans four different specific breeds - the pit bull terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiro.

There are now calls for the Act is focus more on behaviour than and less on breeds.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said: “Dog attacks can have horrific consequences for victims and families.

“While any dog can become dangerous if it is kept by irresponsible owners in the wrong environment, the prohibition of certain types of dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act is crucial to help us deal with the heightened risk they pose.”