Residents have welcomed a destruction order on a “dangerous” dog suspected of at least three attacks on people.

And they pledged to return to a Bradford beauty spot where it roamed.

Judge John Potter made the order on Simba, a particularly large Rottweiler, at Bradford Crown Court last week, saying: “This dog clearly presents a danger to people.”

The judge also fined Kuljit Singh, 43, of Park Drive, Heaton, Bradford, £500 and disqualified him from having control of a dog for five years after he pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control The dog attacked 68-year-old Anthony Baxter in Heaton Woods, biting him on the back and shaking him while on the ground.

The court heard that five-year-old Simba had been the subject of two previous complaints.

Former teacher and magistrate Sue Brown was mauled in the woods by a dog she identified as Simba.

But the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute because of what it said was insufficient evidence.

And Martin Bond had to defend himself with a stool when the dog got out of a gate and seized in its jaws a bag he was carrying.

But Singh’s solicitor advocate, Simon Hustler, told the court the dog was being playful.

John Tempest, chairman of land management for the Heaton Woods Trust charity, said: “Thanks to the co-operation between the police, the Council’s dog warden service and ourselves, a dangerous dog has been finally brought to book and will be destroyed.

“People will now be able to come back into the woods and feel quite safe.

“This was a particularly big dog and was totally unpredictable.

“It was an accident waiting to happen.

“We want to get back to normal as quickly as possible.

“The main thing now is to see that people are coming into the woods again.”

Elizabeth Hellmich, of Bradford’s SAFE project, campaigned to get more than 1,000 names on the Telegraph & Argus Curb the Danger Dogs petition in recent years.

She said: “There is a vast amount of relief.

“I feel sorry for the animal, as it’s not the animal’s fault.

“But a lot of people said that while there was a chance of the dog being in the woods they wouldn’t go in or take their children in.

“Bradford has got to the point now where some owners are using ferocious dogs as status symbols.”

Lawyers have 28 days to lodge an appeal against the destruction order.