A seven-year-old boy was attacked and bitten in the face by a Japanese Akita dog which jumped a six foot fence.

The youngster had been playing in the back garden when the animal pounced and mauled Arran Cawthra as he played with his brother in Bankfoot.

It is the second serious dog attack in the city within a week. Six year-old Allan Sproat had to have 19 stitches in wounds in his arms, hand and shoulder after he was shaken like a rag doll by a Bull Mastiff outside his home in Walker Drive, Girlington. The dog has since been destroyed. The attack also prompted Council boss Jim O'Neill to demand tougher action against stray dogs in the city.

Arran was left with puncture wounds to his face, head and right arm, after the attack in his back garden in Hutton Road, on Sunday. Now his mother is demanding the Akita is put down.

Mrs Slater said she was in the front room of her home with some relatives when her eldest son David, ten, burst through the back door.

She said: "David was screaming that this dog had jumped over the fence and was attacking Arran. He said they were playing in the sandpit and had tried to run inside but Arran had fallen over. I looked out of the kitchen window and my little boy was pinned against the wall by this dog who was ripping at his arm.

"My nephew Nigel tried to get his body around Arran and he kicked a ladder which was lying on the floor which made the dog let go.

While an ambulance took the youngster to Bradford Royal Infirmary Odsal police officers tried to track down the owner of the dog.

Sergeant Paul Jeffrey at Odsal police said the owner of the dog had been traced and the animal formally identified.

He said: "Clearly if we hadn't been able to find an owner for the dog it would have been seized as a stray. The owner has been spoken to and an enquiry is on going and case papers are being passed for the Crime Prosecution Service to consider."

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