A dog found butchered in a city park had attacked a teenaged girl hours before its brutal death, sources said.

The male American Bull Terrier, called Paddy, was stabbed 55 times in the throat and stomach on Tuesday morning.

Police yesterday arrested a man in his 30s from Moulsecoomb over the attack in Wild Park.

A picture of Paddy, while still alive, was supplied to the Argus by one of the pet's former owners.

Meanwhile reports suggested the dog had bitten a 17-year-old girl shortly before it died.

One Moulsecoomb resident told the paper: "We heard a teenaged girl had taken the dog for a walk in the park on Tuesday morning.

"It went for her leg apparently but only nipped her. She made a phone call and a man went steaming over there.

"He got the dog by the throat, held it down, whipped out a knife and cut him.

"The people of Moulsecoomb are very angry about this."

A police spokeswoman confirmed they heard reports that the dog had attacked someone before being killed.

She said the reports varied from "a nip to something more serious."

There were no reports of any hospital admissions for dog-related injuries.

Police visited an address in Moulsecoomb, shortly after the dog was discovered.

Officers had been told a dog matching Paddy's description had been seen at a property.

The Argus was contacted by several sickened Brighton-residents with information about the slaughter but all were too frightened to leave their names.

Police and RSPCA also received calls from the public with information about Paddy. They too had refused to leave their names for fear of reprisals.

A former owner of Paddy told of her grief when she found out he had been killed.

She said: "I was completely shocked.

"Whoever did this must be a complete psycho. Paddy was a boisterous dog but no animal deserves this."

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she owned the dog from when he was a six-week-old puppy and had given it away because she could not trust it around children.

She said: "The dog's name was Paddy and he was about seven-years-old.

"I had him for six years. He was part of the family but he was quite unpredictable around children so we got rid of him.

"We gave him to a friend of a friend about three months ago. He seemed fine, whenever I saw him he was well fed and seemed alright."

The woman said she was called by the new owner yesterday who told her the police had the dog, which weighed 50 kilos, because he had "gone crazy" and attacked a teenaged girl.

She asked him if the dog had been put down and was simply told "the police have him now."

Later on Tuesday, she said she received a visit from the police and officers told her the dog had attacked someone and was in Wild Park.

She said she wasn't told the dog had died and she only found out when she saw yesterday's Argus.

She told police she would go to the park and help find him, thinking he had run off, but she was told to stay away.

Paddy was found by police after they received an anonymous call.

The white terrier, which had distinctive markings on his eye and ear, had been mutilated.

A post mortem revealed Paddy had bled to death but had also had his windpipe cut.

One of the stab wounds had broken one of his ribs.

RSPCA inspector Tony Pritchard said he had never seen such brutality towards an animal in nine years with the charity.

He said: "I'd like to thank The Argus and the readers of The Argus. We have had a really good response from the public and most of them had read about it in the paper.

"Files have been passed to our prosecution department and they decide whether to prosecute or not."