Horrific ordeal of womansavaged by pit bull cross

Kerry Stevens, who works with businesses in the Rye and Battle area in newspaper sales, was delivering a parcel to a flat last Friday when the dog rushed out and sank it’s teeth into her thigh.

She is now recovering after two operations at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings and faces the prospect of having plastic surgery.

Kerry said the moment the dog, a cross between a pit bull and an America bull dog, bit her on the thigh and refused to let go was one of the “most terrifying” of her life.

The attack happened at a property in Eastbourne.

Kerry said: “It was communal flats so I pushed the buzzer and got let in. The woman I was dropping the package off to and her toddler came to the door.

“We were talking then her husband came to the door and started talking too when the dog pushed out of the doorway and launched at me and bit me several times before locking onto my thigh.

“The woman’s husband was punching the dog to release the jaws. She ran inside the flat with her toddler and locked the door leaving us out in the hallway. Eventually the dog let go, the man sat on it and called an ambulance.

“I crawled to the front door and he slid his phone across the floor do I could talk to the ambulance people outside in safety.

“It was the most terrifying experience of my entire life. I was in such a state of shock, trauma and pain. It was horrible.”

Police and ambulance crews arrived at the scene and Kerry was rushed to hospital. A vet was called out and the animal was destroyed.

Police are now investigating.

The attack comes at a time when tough new dog laws being introduced mean the owner of a dog which attacks and injures a person could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

The sentence could be up to 14 years in prison if the dog kills someone.

Other proposals include three years for owners if their dog attacks and injures or kills an assistance dog.

In a written parliamentary statement, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the maximum sentence for a dog attack which resulted in someone’s death would now be the same as that for death caused by dangerous driving.

Of the 3,180 people who responded to a government consultation, held over the summer, 91% wanted maximum sentences increased.

Prior to the consultation, some MPs urged the government to impose life sentences on owners.

Sixteen people have been killed by dogs in the UK since 2005. Campaigners saying this proves that laws passed in the early 1990s to deal with dangerous dogs are out of date and inadequate.

The new penalties will be put to Parliament and could come into force next year.