If There's Any Justice In This World...

A petition was signed by almost 300 people to save the life of a dog which bit a policeman making an arrest in Shrewsbury.

...one of these idiots will be the next one savaged.

Abigail Hall, prosecuting, said: "Police received a call of disruption in Shrewsbury town centre on Pride Hill.

"This caused a crowd of bystanders, including Evans and his dog, Avril, to gather around officers attempting to arrest a female.

"While the officer was trying to make the arrest the dog bit him to which he describes as being in excruciating pain as it tried to rip the flesh from his arm.

"CCTV captured the incident and saw the dog, off the lead, then run and bite another bystander, who did not report it."

Probably too drunk to do so.

Evans admitted he was the owner of the white, mixed breed dog, and said he was knocked to the ground by the officer which then led to the dog attacking.

He has previously been given a dog control order on Avril and been found to be in possession of another dog dangerously out of control.

So he's a habitual offender? Why, then, the leniency?

Chairman of the bench Dean Firmin said: "The dog is your companion and dare I say it, your best friend.

"From what we've read on the petition, we don't believe the dog has ever been trained as a weapon, nor that it has been taught to be aggressive.

"What we will say however, is that you should have walked away from the incident and not just become another bystander. It was not your argument to get involved with.

"You've had plenty of public support on this as I can see from the comments, some of which read: 'Avril has only ever behaved as she should', 'It would be an outrage to put the dog down' and 'The dog has never been anything but friendly' - I could go on.

"You will receive an 18-month conditional discharge, which is effectively for your dog as well. If anything else were to happen regarding Avril there's no doubt she would most likely be destroyed. Nothing else can happen.

I know it's a popular - and wrong - conceit that a dog is 'allowed one bite' but two?

"You will pay compensation to the officer, as nobody should have to go through that when attempting to do their job."

You need to have a word with your fellow magistrates. Some consistency would be nice.