A teenage girl screamed as a Staffordshire bull terrier bit her leg, shaking it from side to side, a court heard today.

The dog’s owner, Lee Shannon, kicked the dog to make it let go of the 15-year-old as she lay on the ground in Royd Street, Keighley.

The girl was in so much pain she was unable to stand up and had to pull herself along a fence, prosecutor Nadine Clough told magistrates in Bingley.

Shannon, a supermarket security guard, of Arctic Street, Keighley, pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control on Thursday, December 17, last year. He was ordered to return to court on Monday, April 12, for sentence.

Magistrates adjourned the hearing for reports. But they said they had already decided that because of the seriousness of the attack the dog must be destroyed and the 28-year-old should be disqualified from owning dogs in the future.

They heard that the animal had not been impounded and was now being cared for by another person.

They made an order that the identity of the victim, who needed hospital treatment for a 4cm cut, should not be revealed.

Miss Clough said the dog initially chased two of the girl’s friends but they kicked out and it ran away. Shannon came out of the house and tried to take hold of the animal, but failed.

“The dog was barking and seemed very aggressive as it approached the girl and she stepped back and slipped over,” said Miss Clough.

“It bit her ankle area, she kicked it away, then it bit her calf muscle.

“It was very painful and she screamed as the dog shook its head from side to side.”

The girl was later helped by two women who took her into a house.

Soon afterwards Shannon came in and told her she must go to hospital, admitting that he had been drinking alcohol. Shannon later told police the dog had run out of his house after he went to investigate a commotion outside.

Keith Blackwell, for Shannon, said the animal had never shown similar behaviour in the past but they accepted that it was an aggravated offence because the dog had bitten the girl.

Shannon was told by the bench they believed he could not control the dog and had not taken enough precautions to control it, although they accepted he showed remorse at the time. They ordered that the dog be destroyed and that Shannon should be disqualified from owning dogs.