http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-171730038.html
Northampton Chronicle and Echo (Northampton, England)
November 24, 2007
The owner of a dangerous Rottweiler which tore off part of a man's face at a Northampton pub has been jailed and banned from keeping dogs for 20 years.
Andrew Davidson, 56, left his Rottweiler called Gangster tied up in the garden of the Ecton Brook pub while he went inside to get a drink.
Northampton Crown Court heard that the 12-stone dog, also called Celtic, had been banned from inside the pub by the landlord as it had previously tried to bite customers.
Michael Waterfield, prosecuting, said Joe Clancy had been trying to calm the dog down because there were children playing in the pub garden just as Davidson returned to the table.
Witnesses told police how they heard the dog's owner say 'boo' before it lunged at the 33-year-old warehouse supervisor from Cotton End and ripped off his upper lip and part of his nose.
Mr Waterfield said: "The dog's reaction was to bite Mr Clancy in the face. Not surprisingly, blood was pouring from the wounds and a piece of the top lip was bitten off."
Mr Clancy, who vaguely knew Davidson as a fellow Celtic football fan, had to undergo reconstructive surgery and may be disfigured for life from the attack which happened on July 7.
Davidson, who has 94 previous convictions, was jailed for six months and disqualified from having a dog until 2027.
Judge Charles Harris QC said: "There is some evidence that you provoked the dog into acts of aggression."
Davidson, of Prentice Court, Goldings pleaded guilty to being in control of a dangerous dog on July 7.
The court heard the Rottweiler has since been destroyed.
Richard Holloway, defending, said Davidson had only had the dog for a short while after taking it from friends who had found it too aggressive.
Mr Clancy said after the hearing, he said: "I didn't really want to see him sent to prison. The main thing I wanted was to see him banned from having animals to stop this from happening again.
"The prison side of it, well, that's his affair. I'm not too bothered."
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