Jailed, owner of killer dog spotted walking new pet
A BANNED dog owner whose Staffordshire bull terrier decapitated another dog in a horrific attack has been jailed after he was spotted walking a new animal in the street.
David Savage, 45, was banned from owning dogs for ten years and handed a suspended sentence after his five- stone dog, George, killed the tiny Pomeranian, called Elvis, last year.
But on Sunday he was seen brazenly flouting his sentence by walking an even larger mongrel in his home town of Warrington, Cheshire, by shocked friends of the dead dog’s owners, who immediately contacted police.
He was arrested and hauled before magistrates in Runcorn who sent him to prison for four weeks for breaching his eight week suspended sentence and ban.
Yesterday Elvis’s owner, Gemma Antell, said she was pleased Savage had been imprisoned, but criticised a loophole which allowed the latest dog to remain at Savage’s home even after he had been sentenced – as he claimed it was owned by someone else living there.
Mrs Antell, 31, said: ‘We’re pleased the court has taken this seriously but our main priority is that the dog is still in that house because of a ridiculous loophole. For an even bigger dog to be allowed to stay in that environment is a time bomb.
‘It’s not fair on the dog, it should be removed and given to a loving home. If it’s brought up in the same environment then the same thing will happen again but next time it could be a child.’
Eight-year- old Elvis was being looked after by Mrs Antell’s mother- in- law when he was attacked in July last year.
After hearing the small, fluffy pet barking, the white Staffordshire, which was being walked by Savage’s girlfriend, Susan Camp- bell burst through the garden gate and attacked. Witnesses watched in horror as the larger dog grabbed Elvis’s head in its jaws.
Pictures of Campbell, a career criminal with 15 previous convictions for 43 offences, including being drunk in charge of a child, went viral after images of her dragging away the bull terrier while covered in blood were posted online.
Savage, who had a previous conviction for failing to control a dog in public, later threw Elvis’s headless body under a car to hide the incriminating evidence.
But Campbell, 42, escaped jail in November 2013 after telling the court she was the one traumatised by the killing. She was instead given a community order and told to pay £300 compensation. She was also banned from owning a dog for five years.
Mrs Antell, who has since replaced Elvis with a cross Pomeranian and Chihuahua named Presley, added: ‘I’m so scared of walking the dog now, I feel nervous all the time.
‘I really don’t want to see another victim of a dog attack and if they’re spotted again walking a dog we’re just going to keep ringing the police until they get the message.’