A DOG has won a reprieve from a threatened death sentence.

Buster the bull mastiff/ Staffordshire bull terrier cross was in danger of being put down after biting an eight-year-old girl outside owner Ashley Keogh's home in June.

The victim received stitches to three puncture wounds in her back and suffered a graze to her left shoulder and back.

Nineteen-year-old Keogh appeared before Sunderland magistrates in October, accused of owning a dog that was out of control.

She admitted the charge, and the magistrates ordered that the dog be destroyed.

Keogh, of Chestnut Crescent, Marley Pots, Sunderland, appealed against the sentence at a hearing at Durham Crown Court yesterday.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said Keogh put Buster in the control of an eight-year-old boy, who had asked to take him out. She told police the dog had never been a problem and often played with children in the street, a statement supported by neighbours.

Stuart Graham, for Keogh, said that her error was to let the boy take it for a walk, even though she told him to keep it on a lead.

Mr Graham said the dog became excited when two youngsters in the street started fighting. He added that Keogh lived alone with the dog and now keeps it muzzled. It also has a harness.

Deputy circuit judge Gerard Harkins, sitting with two magistrates, upheld the appeal. He said: "It was, to use a colloquialism, a one-off, and we are told there has been no further complaints."

The death sentence was replaced with one stating that Keogh must keep the dog under control