A DOG under sentence of death has been given a reprieve by a court. Sam, a mongrel, attacked a pensioner in the street in November last year.

But magistrates have ruled that Sam, who bit 82-year-old Jill Wakelin twice, should not be put down, although they have banned his owner from keeping dogs for two years.

Karla Griffiths, 25, from Hawkinge, near Folkestone, admitted allowing her dog to be dangerously out of control and was given a 12-month conditional discharge by the bench.

The court heard the single mother-of-two bought Sam to be a companion for her three-year-old son Miles who is stricken with cerebral palsy.

Denzil Pugh, prosecuting, said Sam charged out of the family home and leapt a wall to bite Mrs Wakelin twice. She was treated with antibiotics for her injuries.

Piers Restell, defending, said: “Sam was bought to provide involvement and emotional attachment for Mrs Griffiths’ son. She accepts now, in hindsight, that having a dog in such a busy household was not a good idea.”

After the case, Mrs Griffiths said: “I burst into tears when they said they were not going to put him down. I have no idea why Sam bit the old lady.

“He is not a savage dog or a dangerous dog. He is a family pet, a poppet and Miles loves him to bits,” she said.

Sam now lives with Miles’s grandmother Linda Blomquist, elsewhere in the village.

She said: “We are just glad this is all over and is a weight off Karla’s shoulders before Christmas. Justice has been done. The dog bit the lady, she complained and Karla has been to court. It is all over with now.”

Miles continues to see the dog four times a week at his granny’s house. Ashford magistrates awarded Mrs Wakelin £200 compensation.