Oh, It's An 'Affront To The Justice System' All Right!

A policeman who let a dangerous 'ticking timebomb' dog off its lead before it attacked an innocent athlete will not be prosecuted.

*blinks*

PC Youll took Ilko to the National Trust park near his home on June 6 and let him off the lead - allegedly against protocol.

Ilko then attacked Mr Taylor and refused to respond to orders from PC Youll.

 Hmmm. There's a lot of this going about lately, isn't there?

Ilko was put down shortly after the attack.

PC Youll was to stand trial this week but a judge has ruled it would be an 'affront to the justice system' if a prosecution was to go ahead after hearing of failings by Cleveland Police and the dog's former owner - West Mercia Police.

Ooh, I think this might turn out to be rather familiar territory, somehow...

The animal carried out a vicious attack while serving for West Mercia Police in 2011 but the force failed to fully share details when it offloaded Ilko to Cleveland Police in a cut-price deal.

Cleveland Police also then failed to properly share details of the dog's background to PC Youll, the judge found.

Well, well, well....

The abuse of process hearing was told how Ilko carried out an unprovoked attack at a training exercise at West Mercia in October 2011.

A police observer was put in hospital after the attack left deep wounds.

Hey, it was just 'unexpectedly detaining' him, wasn't it?

But internal emails from West Mercia confirmed the force knew the animal posed a risk before the sale to Cleveland. West Mercia suspended Ilko's licence and carried out a safety assessment.

The force's emails said: 'If things went wrong again, there would be no backing from the force, especially in the current climate'. The assessment concluded the dog was 'unpredictable in nature and does pose a risk when deployed in certain operational roles'.

It said: 'The dog has shown it can bite without provocation. It would not be appropriate to offer a licence for this dog.'

Ilko was removed from service in October 24, 2011 three days before being sold to Cleveland.

I'm only astonished it wasn't given as a pet to a serving police officer!

West Mercia emails also detailed how the force wanted to recoup its money. They read: 'With the current financial climate we are not in a financial position to simply buy another dog. If we can sell the dog we may be in a position to purchase another.'

PC Youll's barrister Selvaraju Ramasamy said the force had two options, which were also detailed in the emails. The first was to 'see if the breeder would want to take the dog back'.

The second was to 'see if there is anyone interested from the police or prison service, in my mind he would make a good attack dog'.

So knowing they had an unpredictable animal they couldn't fully control, they were prepared to give it back (or sell it back) to a civilian, or to another farce?

Hmmm. I wonder what the law would say were they to knowingly sell a defective police car..?

...merely days after Ilko was deemed a risk, Cleveland Police bought him for the slashed price of £1,200 on October 27, 2011.

'In 2011, PC Youll meets Ilko, because Cleveland Police buys the dog from West Mercia Police,' Mr Ramasamy said. 'They bought the dog for £1,200, which is interesting as West Mercia were after £1,800 to £2,000, so somehow the price has come down, one wonders why that is?'

One does indeed, Mr Ramasamy, one does indeed...

Ilko was put to work in Teesside and was given to PC Youll as a replacement dog, after his original had to be put down for biting him.

Speechless Firefly GIF from Speechless GIFs

It's probably just as well that he didn't take the stand, or we'd no doubt find out he's less a rugged PC Snow type, more a bit like PC Baines...

Responding to the outcome of the latest hearing, a Cleveland Police spokesman said: 'The judgment of the court is welcome and comes at the end of what has been a very upsetting period for the officer involved.

He's the victim, people!

'Throughout this process we have been mindful that whatever the outcome a member of the public was injured by what was at the time a Cleveland Police dog and we would reassure our communities that lessons have been learned.'

Who the hell would be reassured by this, given they seem incapable of it?