2011: MAN JAILED FOR ORDERING PET TO ATTACK HIS GIRLFRIEND
A MAN who ordered his dog to savage his girlfriend in a Pensnett street during a drunken row has been jailed.Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Tyrone Payne used the Staffordshire Bull Terrier "as a weapon" and repeatedly told the pet to "get her", leaving Claire Barker with permanent scarring to wounds on her arm.
Mark Phillips, prosecuting, said Payne was walking with Miss Barker in Queen Street after they had both been drinking heavily and a heated argument ensued.
He said when she tried to leave she was grabbed by Payne and she fell over onto the ground.
Judge Amjad Nawaz told 23-year-old Payne: "This must have been extremely frightening for her because you could not control what injuries the dog would inflict.
"When someone uses an animal to attack it warrants an immediate custodial sentence." Payne, of Pleasant View, Lower Gornal, was jailed for 21 months after he admitted wounding and being the owner of a dog that was dangerously out of control.
He was also made the subject of a five-year restraining order to stay away from Miss Barker and banned from owning a dog for the next five years.
Mr Phillips said he was not seeking an order for the destruction of the dog because its whereabouts were unknown and Miss Barker in a statement had stressed it was not vicious but simply obeying Payne’s orders.
