A woman attacked by a Rottweiler today said she feared the dog's owners would escape justice because of flaws in the Dangerous Dogs' Act.

Sue Brown, 58, said she was terrified that the dog that savaged her in Heaton Woods, causing horrific injuries to her right arm would strike again if the owners were not taken to task and it was destroyed.

But she said a failure in the Act to bring in compulsory registration for all dog owners could lead to no prosecution being brought in her case.

Mrs Brown, of Heaton, said: "I have been told by the police that the Crown Prosecution Service is unlikely to prosecute because there is not enough evidence to link the dog to the owners.

"I would have thought the injuries on my arm were all the evidence they needed.

"This dog is still being walked in the woods off a lead and it will bite again.

"Bringing no action gives the owners the message that they have got away with it and that is unacceptable."

After the attack a man who was with the dog just walked off leaving Mrs Brown alone and bleeding badly.

"That is what hurts most," she said.

"The fact that he could watch the attack and then leave me is horrifying."

Mrs Brown, a former teacher, said she wholeheartedly supported the Telegraph & Argus Curb The Danger Dogs Campaign.

She said: "Someone needs to take positive action to get this impotent law changed.

"The law is not, in its current form, protecting the public from dangerous dogs and we all need to make a stand to see that it is changed quickly.

"I am extremely pleased that the T&A has taken this campaign on board."

Coincidentally Mrs Brown was Rukhsana Khan's teacher, the girl who was attacked by a Pitt Bull Terrier 15 years ago.

The attack led to the introduction of the Dangerous Dogs' Act 1991.

Mrs Brown said: "The introduction of that law was supposed to protect people from this type of attack and it clearly isn't.

"You can read about an attack by a dog anywhere in the country nearly every day in the papers.

"Politicians need to sit down now and revisit the Act and look at how it can be made more effective."

Terry Singh, Bradford Council's Dog Warden Manager, said he had deep concerns about the effectiveness of the Dangerous Dogs' Act.

He said: "The current law is unworkable and needs to be revisited.

"It needs to be changed to make it more effective in reducing the number of attacks by dangerous dogs."

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said the attack on Mrs Brown was still being investigated and discussions were continuing with the Crown Prosecution Service.

e-mail: jennifer.sugden@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

HOW YOU CAN SIGN OUR PETITION

You can back our Curb the Danger Dogs Campaign by signing our petition, which will be submitted to the Home Secretary, John Reid.

We want to collect as many signatures as possible in the next month to show Mr Reid the strength of feeling in the district about the inadequacies of the Dangerous Dogs Act and to put pressure on him to better protect the public against dog attacks by acting on the changes to the law we have outlined on the petition.

You can support our campaign simply by adding your own name on the petition online at our publication's website www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk. Or you can print out the petition and ask family, friends and colleagues to sign as well. The more signatures we receive, the stronger our message.

But whatever you can do will add weight to our campaign and help to make it clear to Mr Reid the strength of public feeling regarding the desperate need to change the current law.

Remember, you need to return copies of the petition to the T&A (the address is at the foot of the form) by Thursday, October 12.

We will then submit all the forms we receive to the Home Office.

Click here to sign the petition on-line

Or click here to download a copy of the petition to print out