A JUDGE has ordered the destruction of a Staffordshire bull terrier which bit a police officer on a Carlisle street.

The city’s Rickergate Magistrates’ Court was told how the dog – called Maisey – attacked the officer as he was visiting a house in Henderson Road, Currock, on April 24.

Stefan Sidney Cartwright, 26, who lives on the street, admitted that he was meant to have been in charge of the dog when it was “dangerously out of control.”

Defence lawyer Anthony Wilson said the defendant had previously owned the dog involved but had given it to its new owner, a local woman.

He had left the dog with family members that day because he had an appointment he needed to go to but when he arrived back in Henderson Road the police were there to speak to him about another matter.

As one of the police officers approached his property, the dog ran towards him aggressively. Cartwright had tried to grab Maisey before she could reach the officer, said Mr Wilson, but the defendant lost his grip of the dog and it went for the officer, biting him.

After the constable had been injured, said Mr Wilson, Cartwright had immediately tried to help him and he also apologised for what happened.

“There wasn’t a lot that Stefan could have done,” said Mr Wilson, pointing out that Maisey had been a family pet for five years.

District Judge Gerald Chalk ruled that the dog, which was already subject to a control order, must be destroyed within the next 21 days – unless its owner lodges an appeal. He imposed a 70 day jail term on the defendant but suspended the sentence for a year.

The judge also imposed a 10 week electronically monitored curfew on the defendant.

The restriction will apply from 8pm to 6am each day. Cartwright must also pay the injured officer £100 compensation, prosecution costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £128.

Judge Chalk said that the defendant can settle the payments owed to the court at a rate of £40 per fortnight.

He said that the offence was serious because the defendant had taken responsibility for Maisey and allowed it to be out of control to the extent that it bit somebody.

It is not known whether Maisey’s owner intends to appeal against the judge’s destruction order.