Police drop bid to put down dog which bit people after escaping from a garden during Storm Doris

Police have dropped their application to have a dog that attacked several people after escaping from a garden during Storm Doris put down.

Muppett and Phoebe fled from a house in Duston, Northampton, in February last year as Britain was battered by heavy winds, rain and snow.

Four people ended up needing medical treatment after they were bitten by the dogs and Phoebe was shot dead by police at the scene.

Muppett – a cross-breed Lurcher-Whippet Staffordshire Bull Terrier – was seized, and police later requested a civil destruction order.

Jeffrey Penfold, the dog’s owner, refused to sign the order and the two parties were due to meet at Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court to determine the dog’s fate.

However, before the hearing on Thursday, Mr Penfold and Northamptonshire Police reached an agreement that such an order would not be made as it was “completely out of character for Muppett”.

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James Parry, speaking on behalf of Mr Penfold, said: “The dog is unlikely to bite anyone in a public place if it is kept under control.”

Chair of Magistrates Vivienne Bernard ordered that Muppett be suitably secured, muzzled in public at all times and to be under the control of someone over the age of 16 when out in public.