Victims of savage dogs still having nightmares after ordeal (From The Argus)

Victims of savage dogs still having nightmares after ordeal

3:30pm Saturday 26th January 2013 in News By Bill Gardner

A mother and daughter are still having nightmares eight months after they were at the centre of a horrific dog attack.

Two escaped bull terriers left 10 people needing hospital treatment when they ran amok in St Leonards in May last year.

Witnesses said the snarling hounds were foaming at the mouth and residents were so scared they stood on car roofs or rushed indoors.

But brave Sharron Brooker and her daughter Claire Mosley leapt from the safety of their car to rescue 52-year-old Nigel Waughman after he was attacked.

He was walking home with two bags of shopping when the dogs knocked him face down to the ground and sunk their teeth into his arm and leg.

Mrs Brooker, 52, leapt from her daughter’s Ford Focus and kicked and punched at the animals.

They initially backed off as she hauled a bloodied Mr Waughman onto the back seat.

But as she went to the other side to get into the car they turned on her and dragged her from the vehicle and into the road.

Fearing death

One leapt and clamped its jaw on her left arm and tore away a piece of flesh. The other bit her right arm and then went for her behind, ripping away parts of her bottom. Both animals went for her legs as she fell to the ground and Mrs Brooker feared she was about to die.

The enraged animals turned and attacked Claire, 21, leaping high off the ground and dragging her down the road.

Mrs Brooker screamed at the bloodthirsty dogs – named Freak and Tilly – which mercifully let go and turned their attention on other victims.

Eight other people were also injured with three needing plastic surgery Mum-of-three Mrs Brooker added: “They had to wash the blood off the road afterwards, so many people were attacked.

Brave daughter

“Claire’s been brave about it but she still has really bad nightmares and often can’t sleep, like me.”

Claire, a brain injury rehab assistant who lives with her mother, said: “I’m still scarred and I’ve had a few nightmares about it. It was terrifying.”

Spencer Brown, 22, an unemployed father-of-one, was jailed for 12 months in August for failing to control the animals.

They had escaped from his house when he went out and left a window open.

The dogs – Staffordshire bull terriers crossed with American bulldogs – have since been destroyed.

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