Dog owners could be jailed for attack

Dog owners Jane Anglesea and Andrew Young could face a jail term after pleading guilty to being in charge of the American Bulldog, called Tyson, during the horrific attack last year.

The four-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was left with a skull fracture, spending nine days in hospital after surgery.

Wigan magistrates ordered Anglesea and Young, of Adelphi Street, Standish, to appear again later this month with sentencing at crown court - and custodial sentences - available options.

Nicola Ormerod, prosecuting, told the court the victim was playing with the defendants’ child on a trampoline in the garden of their Standish home in August last year.

She said: “The victim said the dog came out of the house and bit him to the back of the head.

“Jane Anglesea heard the screaming and came out and the victim’s head was in the mouth of the dog and she had to remove the dog from the victim.”

The court heard the owners signed a disclosure to police for the destruction of the dog following the attack.

And both had entered early guilty pleas.

The pair will return to Wigan Magistrates’ Court on February 25 while pre-sentence reports are prepared but the bench said “all options remain open”.

Anglesea and Young were released on bail on the condition they are not to contact the victim or any members of the child’s family.