A schoolboy needed 19 stitches in his head after being mauled by a dog.

Nine-year-old Ollie Burnett then suffered fresh heartache when thieves stole his beloved BMX bike as he lay bleeding.

Ollie, of Warren Road in Woodingdean, Brighton, was attacked as he rode his £140 Raleigh Max on the BMX track near Brighton racecourse.

He leapt off his bike and left it behind as he tried to flee from the dog, thought to be a pitbull or bull terrier.

But the animal caught up with him and tore into his legs and head.

His mother Hazel Spence received a phone call from paramedics trying to stem blood flowing from Ollie's head.

She said: "When the paramedic said he'd been bitten by a dog I just thought it wouldn't be too bad but his shirt was covered in blood. It was a shock.

"He is terrified of dogs. He wouldn't have gone near it. I don't know why it went for him."

She went with him to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, where he was X-rayed and cleaned before being transferred to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton.

He received 19 stitches to a deep head wound during a two-hour operation.

As he recovered from the emergency surgery, his mother had to break the bad news about the loss of his bike, which he had been given last Christmas.

She said: "We didn't give the bike a moment's thought until Ollie's sister asked where it was. We went to look for it but it had gone.

"He was never off that bike. It was really mean-spirited to steal it."

The family hoped at first a passer-by might have taken it away and handed it to the police but it is still missing.

Ollie, a Year 4 pupil at Woodingdean Primary School, was confined to his hospital bed and fed antibiotics intravenously for two days.

He has difficulty walking and has not been back to school since the attack.

He said: "I've still got a headache. I think the people who stole my bike are mean."

The dog has since been destroyed and Sussex Police are investigating the attack.

It is an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act to be in charge of a dog that is dangerously out of control in a public place, resulting in fines of up to £5,000 and six months in prison.