Neighbours used hammer & knife to stop dog attack

Pearl Davie leaves court with husband Graham after being convicted of owning out-of-control dog. Picture: PressTeam Scotland

Thomas McIntyre, 73, was walking his two West Highland terriers with his wife, Margaret, when a Staffordshire bull terrier jumped a six foot high fence and mauled the dogs.

Mr McIntyre lay on the ground to try to protect his dog, Angus. He was bitten in the face and arms and left with 21 injuries as the terrier, called Blue, chewed Angus’s hind leg.

Blue was owned by Pearl Davie, 55, who lived near Mr McIntyre in Uddingston, Lanarkshire.

Mr McIntyre has spoken of how neighbours came out of their homes armed with weapons including a craft knife and a hammer in an effort to help.

The ordeal only ended when Mr McIntyre, a retired firefighter, managed to free Angus and run for safety.

Blue was later destroyed.

After a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Davie was convicted of owning a dog that was dangerously out of control.

Giving evidence, Mr McIntyre described the attack, which happened last September.

He said: “We noticed a Staffie climbing the inside of a high fence, getting over it and then running right over to us.

“It attacked Angus and I jumped on top of him to protect him but it grabbed his back right leg and had a vice-like grip of it. My wife was screaming and a neighbour came out of his house.

“I asked him to get me a knife and he got a Stanley knife which he passed to my wife, who made a couple of stabbing actions on its head but to no avail.

“Another neighbour came round with a hammer and began hitting it with the shaft, I shouted for him to hit it with the metal end.

“It opened its jaws, I managed to pull Angus out and ran away up the street. I was taken to hospital where I was treated for 21 puncture wounds.”

Mrs McIntyre, 62, said: “I was absolutely terrified. Its jaws were clamped on the dog and when it was not doing that it was attacking my husband, I have never seen anything like it before.

“I got a Stanley knife and was stabbing it into the dog but it was doing nothing, there was blood everywhere.”

Blue ran off and attacked another dog before being caught and restrained.

Davie, a mental health nurse, told the court she was at the hairdressers at the time of the attack, but could not explain why her husband, Graham, had not tried to intervene.

She said: “My husband phoned me and told me what was happening, and said he was coming to get me because Blue had got out.

“He couldn’t understand how he had got out, we had been told the garden was secure and we believed that to be the case, I did everything in my power to make the garden secure. I took responsibility for him, but nearly 100 per cent of the time my husband would walk him because I have problems with my legs.

“I accept my dog was responsible for the incidents. But when it happened I think my husband felt intimidated by all the noise and the people round about the dog, I actually could not understand why he did not make an attempt to help Blue.”

Mr Davie told the court: “I decided the best person to release the dog would be Pearl and that’s why I left the scene to get her.”