A Sittingbourne woman has warned a child could be the next victim after her pet poodle was mauled to death by a bull mastiff.

Ester Rainer and her partner Jayme Newell were walking their dogs, Phoebe and Lola, in Rectory Park in January when the attack happened.

Miss Rainer said: “We saw this absolutely massive dog run round the corner towards us.

“I knew it was going to attack and we both picked up the dogs, but the bull mastiff snatched Phoebe out of my hands and started mauling her in front of us. I’ve never heard a sound like it.

“Jayme was kicking the dog really hard, trying to get it off, but it was not doing anything.”

Minutes after the animal launched the attack its owner Rosemary McMullen arrived on the scene, where she allegedly told the distressed couple her pet had never behaved in that way before.

The bloody assault only came to end when Mr Newell, 40, was able to pry the animal’s jaws open.

Despite McMullen, 43, of Woodberry Drive, Sittingbourne, admitting having a dangerously out of control dog, she avoided having the animal destroyed.

Instead Medway magistrates ordered it be muzzled and kept on a leash at all times in public.

She was also ordered to pay £800 in fines and compensation, as well as a £40 victim surcharge and £100 in court costs.

Miss Rainer criticised the punishment as “totally inadequate”, arguing the dog could easily kill a child.

The 32-year-old added: “We feel let down. Nothing can bring Phoebe back but we worry about any young child that comes into contact with that dog.”

Since the attack Miss Rainer and her partner, who live in Commonwealth Close, have both been treated for post traumatic stress syndrome and prescribed sleeping pills.

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