A WOMAN whose rottweiler left a housing officer scarred in a “horrific” attack will have her dog put down after her previous pet shared the same fate.

Donna Stepney’s dog Buddy attacked Brighton and Hove City Council housing officer Cheryl Moss when she visited her home in Woodingdean, Brighton, after receiving noise complaints about the dog barking.

She was bitten on her arm, leaving her needing hospital treatment, antibiotics and scarring her permanently.

Ms Moss, who was sitting on the living room sofa at the time of the attack, said: “I remember him being on me and I put my arm up to my face. It was so horrific and it was blind panic. He was on me and the pain was bad.”

The housing officer, who was accompanied by RSPCA inspector Elizabeth Miller when visiting the house in Ravenswood Drive, said the dog had a “crazy” look in his eyes as he barked and snarled before lunging at her.

Prosecutors said the rottweiler cross bull mastiff was let out of his cage by Stepney, who told the court she was instructed to do so by Ms Miller. The RSPCA inspector denied this.

The 37-year-old dog owner, who receives £800 in benefits per month, was found guilty of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury after the attack on May 17 last year.

She was handed a six-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, given a 10-day rehabilitation course and was also ordered to pay £300 in compensation to Ms Moss at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

Stepney will also be disqualified from owning a dog for three years and an order was made for three-year-old Buddy to be put down.

Sentencing her, Judge Christine Laing said: “He went on to cause quite dreadful injury to Ms Moss’ arm. She had done nothing to provoke him to do that. You are not someone who should have ownership of a dog.”

Stepney’s previous dog was ordered to be put down after two separate incidents where it bit other dogs in 2014.