Mother's horror after girl, 5, scarred for life after stranger's dog bit her face

Charmaine Beresford took her daughter Molly to a stranger's house to buy some furniture advertised on Facebook when the dog pounced on the little girl.

She had to be to hospital and was given 36 stitches after her face was "ripped off by the dog".

The dog's owner, Juliet Marsh, was found guilty of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control at Cheltenham Magistrates Court on September 19.

Now Charmaine, from Honeybourne, Worcestershire, has spoken out and said her daughter is lucky to be alive.

Charmaine said: "It was absolutely horrendous. It was awful. My daughter gets called 'scar face'. She says, 'mummy am I still beautiful?'"

Molly had gone with her mum and dad, Lee, to collect some bunk beds they had seen for sale on Facebook, from the seller's home in Chipping Campden.

Charmaine said: "The room was a box room, there was not much space. She (the seller) said 'I'll take Molly downstairs to get a drink.' "It was safe as far as me and Lee were concerned."

Charmaine said she did not know there was a dog in the house.

She added: "She left Molly unattended."

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She said that after a few minutes they heard a scream and rushed downstairs, where she said she saw: "Molly had had her face ripped off by the dog."

Charmaine said the dog's owner was reluctant to call for help and that she had to repeated ask for help.

She added: "Four or five times I asked her to phone the ambulance. I had to scream at her.

"I wasn't going to prosecute or anything like that. But then the surgeon who treated Molly said 'this is a dangerous dog. You need to prosecute'."

Marsh, appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates Court on September 19 and was found guilty of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control.

The court ordered that the dog is kept under control and fitted with a muzzle in a public place and is never left alone in the company of children under 17.

Marsh must carry out 60 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months. She was fined £775 with a surcharge of £85.

Charmaine said: "We were kind enough to let her keep the dog. I just want to make other people aware.

"I have got two dogs and Molly is fine with them and with family members' dogs but if we see strangers dogs out in public she'll cling to me like a leech.

"But other than that she is coping really well. We are lucky because that dog could have taken her life that night. Even though she is scarred we are lucky."