A police community support officer was badly bitten in an attack by an American Bulldog that had previously injured two customers at the garage it was guarding, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

The officer was investigating a suspected burglary at Worth Valley Garage in Worth Way, Keighley, when the large white dog called Buddy ran at her and sunk its teeth into both her arms.

The officer read out her victim personal statement in court saying she feared the dog was going to kill her as she lay on the ground.

“Every time I moved, he growled and I thought I was going to die a horrendous death,” she stated.

David Moore, 63, of Dorothy Street, Keighley, pleaded guilty to being the owner of dog that was dangerously out of control at the garage and injured the PCSO on March 22, 2020.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with ten rehabilitation activity days and 150 hours of unpaid work. He was banned from keeping a dog for two years.

Recorder Felicity Davies ordered that Buddy be destroyed. She conceded that would be upsetting for Moore and the officer, herself a dog lover, but he had injured three people on three separate occasions.

Experienced staff at the kennels where he was being kept said he was unsafe to handle and a canine expert described him as “ready and looking for trouble.”

He had inflicted “an extremely strong full-mouth bite” and was capable of causing a life-threatening injury, the expert concluded.

Prosecutor Richard Holland said the officer was walking past the garage on duty when she saw that the gates were open. She suspected the premises were being burgled and “nobly” investigated to prevent serious damage to property.

There were small signs warning to beware of the dog but she assumed that if the gates were standing open, no dog would be roaming.

She was walking round the side of the garage, calling to see if anyone was about, when she saw “a white blur” and Buddy, who was on a long chain, came at her.

He bit her badly on both arms and she lay terrified on the ground as he sniffed around her. She managed to summon urgent help and officers used Pava spray to drive him off.

She needed surgery to close a deep wound to her left arm that had left the muscle ex-posed.

Mr Holland said that Buddy had attacked customers at the garage in 2018 and 2019. The first victim, aged 74, was bitten on the head, arm and leg when he brought his car in for service.