A TODDLER needed 140 stitches to a nasty bite on the cheek after being attacked by Staffordshire bull terrier while visiting a young couple minding the dog, a court was told.

Joe Colledge, 20, and his partner Chloe Brenkley, 19, who were aware the animal had track record of being aggressive, pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control.

Judge Jonathan Carroll, accepted they had been “completely out of their depth and naïve” when taking on responsibility for the dog and gave them a suspended sentence when they appeared at Durham Crown Court. The dog has has since been destroyed.

The court heard the boy was with his mother, visiting Brenkley’s home in Horden, near Peterlee, when the attack happened without warning on February 23 last year.

Passing sentence, Judge Carroll said: “That dog had a track history of being aggressive and you were both aware of it – that it had bitten at least two other people.

“Sensibly you both put the dog in the back yard in anticipation for their arrival.”

But after child left with his father, he changed his mind came back, during which time the dog had been let back into the the house, the court heard.

The judge added: “The moment you saw the boy come back into the house the only proper, sensible and safe thing to do would have been to put the dog immediately back outside, but you didn’t. You took a risk.

"And I am sure, emotionally, each of you will be paying the price for some time to come.”

Phillip Morley, prosecuting, said the youngster who was about to turn three-years-old had gone to stroke the dog when it bit him to the left side of the cheek.

"He screamed and the mother was able to pull him away. It was a matter of seconds," he added.

In her victim impact statement, the boy's mother, who is related to Brenkley, said the child had been waking up "with night terrors screaming and shouting".

Ian West, mitigating for Brenkley, said it had been an "unfortunate sequence of events that led to the tragic incident".

Colledge of Grysdale Road, Peterlee, and Brenkley of Sixth Street, Horden, were sentenced to 12 months in jail suspended for two years and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.