Man jailed for dog attack on Brighton beach

8:00am Friday 8th March 2013 in News

Man jailed for dog attack on Brighton beach Man jailed for dog attack on Brighton beach

A man whose dogs mauled his friend to within an inch of his life has been jailed.

The Staffordshire bull terrier and bull mastiff cross of Geoff Clark attacked the man on Brighton beach.

Clark, 41, of Horton Road, Brighton, was walking along the beach with a friend on May 18 last year when the two dogs attacked the second man.

Witnesses told how the pair continued to maul the man after he had passed out in the sea.

With the dogs out of control, passers-by called the police and a dog unit and armed response team were on the scene in minutes.

But paramedics were unable to get to the injured man until the dogs were subdued. One officer received bite wounds to his leg and hand and was taken to hospital.

The dogs were later put down. The victim was in hospital in a critical condition for three weeks and is still receiving specialist treatment.

When Clark was arrested he was found to be carrying drugs and a knife. Jack Le-Flay, 20, from Henfield, witnessed the “barbaric” attack as he was returning from a night out.

He said at the time: “We could see these two dogs dragging something out of the water.

"At first we thought it might have been a police training exercise or an old tyre but then we could see a leg.

"The dogs would run back to their owner and then rush back and start attacking the man again.”

At Hove Crown Court Clark was jailed for 12 months for allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and a bladed weapon. He was also banned from owning a dog indefinitely.

Comments(21)

Maxwell's Ghost says...
8:21am Fri 8 Mar 13

This story is very badly written and makes little sense.
Try again.

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raymondo999 says...
8:50am Fri 8 Mar 13

It's crystal clear. Dangerous dogs attacked man. Owner imprisoned.

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
9:19am Fri 8 Mar 13

so raymondo999, the third paragraph states that the dog attacked the second man.
Who is th second man?
Is he the man in the sea? Is he the friend or is the man in the sea the friend?
Can you explain.

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Hector66 says...
9:24am Fri 8 Mar 13

that is an extremely light sentence imo and i am normally of the opinion, contrary to most, that sentences are too severe.

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Hector66 says...
9:24am Fri 8 Mar 13

the second man is the friend.

but who is The Third Man? (Ho Ho)

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Morpheus says...
9:45am Fri 8 Mar 13

Maxwell's Ghost wrote:
so raymondo999, the third paragraph states that the dog attacked the second man.
Who is th second man?
Is he the man in the sea? Is he the friend or is the man in the sea the friend?
Can you explain.
Clark, the dog owner, was with a friend (the first man). The dog attacked a second man.

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yourallnuts says...
9:50am Fri 8 Mar 13

Maxwell's Ghost wrote:
so raymondo999, the third paragraph states that the dog attacked the second man. Who is th second man? Is he the man in the sea? Is he the friend or is the man in the sea the friend? Can you explain.
Clark, 41, of Horton Road is the first man (dog owner) and his friend is the second man and the one who got mauled...surely someone as intellegent as yourself Maxwell's Ghost can work it out! or are you just a little bored at MI5 today.

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StyleCop says...
10:18am Fri 8 Mar 13

It really isn't that clear - it is a terribly written article that fails to inform reader the details of the incindent in a lucid manner.

There are well defined structures for writing news stories, that journalists should be privvy to - this article doesn't conform to that at all...

The final paragraph,

"At Hove Crown Court Clark was jailed for 12 months for allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and a bladed weapon. He was also banned from owning a dog indefinitely."

Nice alliteration there - Crown Court Clark - is that the Clerk of the Crown Court? Why is the Clerk of the Crown Court being Jailed? - Weird...

Hows about...?

"Appearing at Hove Crown court, dog owner, Geoff Clark was found guilty of allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and possessing a bladed weapon and sentenced to 12 months in prison."

I'm no expert by any stretch, but its clear that today's editor must have glossed over this...

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raymondo999 says...
10:29am Fri 8 Mar 13

What a load of pedants!! Dog attacked friend and owner imprisoned. Article contains info if you want literature read Dickens (Charlie, that is)

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JuliaM says...
10:33am Fri 8 Mar 13

"...paramedics were unable to get to the injured man until the dogs were subdued. One officer received bite wounds to his leg and hand and was taken to hospital."

and

"The dogs were later put down."

Then...what was the point in having a police armed response team turn up? What were they doing while their colleagues were going hand-to-paw with the out-of-control beasts?

Are the police going to claim they can't afford the ammunition!?

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qm says...
10:49am Fri 8 Mar 13

zzzzzz . . . . . .

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Crystal Ball says...
11:00am Fri 8 Mar 13

Did a man attack a dog on Brighton beach?

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Goldenwight says...
11:28am Fri 8 Mar 13

How much of that sentence relates to the dog, and how much relates to possession of controlled substances and carrying a weapon? I'm also guessing that this was not a first offence?

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Thetruth666 says...
11:33am Fri 8 Mar 13

I have to agree with the previous comments that the way this article is written is confusing.I hope the guy that was attacked is recovering well.

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spa301 says...
11:45am Fri 8 Mar 13

You want well written journalism then you need to try another paper...............
this is the Argus!
They don't even proof read their own articles before publishing.

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NickBrt says...
12:50pm Fri 8 Mar 13

So to be clear, it is all Caroline Lucas fault?

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StyleCop says...
2:13pm Fri 8 Mar 13

raymondo999 wrote:
What a load of pedants!! Dog attacked friend and owner imprisoned. Article contains info if you want literature read Dickens (Charlie, that is)
Yes, we are pedants Ray - Literature is not what one requires from a news piece - what one requires is a Lucid article, that has a solid narrative, that makes sense to the reader with clear beginning, middle and end.

It's a basic News-writing skill, that anyone in the Journalistic trade should not only aspire to but be **** sure that before they click 'publish', their article conforms to...

If they fail to do that then they're failing in their role as spokesperson to the people.

I accept there whilst writing under pressure, there are the odd typos and grammatical mistakes here and there. This is an acceptable part of day to day Journalism. But there's no excuse for sloppy structural editing. If indeed, this piece was even subject to such scrutiny by the editing 'team'

Yes, pendant the core - totally, but at least I know how to write a decent piece of copy.

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StyleCop says...
2:15pm Fri 8 Mar 13

PS - any errors are due to writing under pressure whilst trying to do my normal day job.

Feel free to lambast me for typos.

:)

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wippasnapper says...
3:21pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Why is it so many people think its ok to walk the dogs off the lead in public places especially where there are lots of people – Dog’s used to be wolfs its natural to them to attack anyone they wish and it has been proven so many time you can’t trust a dogs even when its been a family member for many years only to turn and bite.

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raymondo999 says...
3:42pm Fri 8 Mar 13

StyleCop wrote:
raymondo999 wrote:
What a load of pedants!! Dog attacked friend and owner imprisoned. Article contains info if you want literature read Dickens (Charlie, that is)
Yes, we are pedants Ray - Literature is not what one requires from a news piece - what one requires is a Lucid article, that has a solid narrative, that makes sense to the reader with clear beginning, middle and end.

It's a basic News-writing skill, that anyone in the Journalistic trade should not only aspire to but be **** sure that before they click 'publish', their article conforms to...

If they fail to do that then they're failing in their role as spokesperson to the people.

I accept there whilst writing under pressure, there are the odd typos and grammatical mistakes here and there. This is an acceptable part of day to day Journalism. But there's no excuse for sloppy structural editing. If indeed, this piece was even subject to such scrutiny by the editing 'team'

Yes, pendant the core - totally, but at least I know how to write a decent piece of copy.
Read your last sentence stylecop, did you copy edit it??!!!! People in glass houses..

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Lightbulb48 says...
5:36pm Fri 8 Mar 13

StyleCop wrote:
It really isn't that clear - it is a terribly written article that fails to inform reader the details of the incindent in a lucid manner.

There are well defined structures for writing news stories, that journalists should be privvy to - this article doesn't conform to that at all...

The final paragraph,

"At Hove Crown Court Clark was jailed for 12 months for allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and a bladed weapon. He was also banned from owning a dog indefinitely."

Nice alliteration there - Crown Court Clark - is that the Clerk of the Crown Court? Why is the Clerk of the Crown Court being Jailed? - Weird...

Hows about...?

"Appearing at Hove Crown court, dog owner, Geoff Clark was found guilty of allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and possessing a bladed weapon and sentenced to 12 months in prison."

I'm no expert by any stretch, but its clear that today's editor must have glossed over this...
Clumsy. And your post is full of errors. How's that glass house?

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