Woman sentenced over danger dog

Four-year-old John-Paul Massey suffered multiple injuries when he was savaged by the pitbull, Uno, at Helen Foulkes's home in Liverpool last November.

Foulkes, 63, admitted one charge of keeping a dangerous dog at Liverpool Magistrates Court yesterday.

She was given a four-month jail term, suspended for 18 months along with a supervision order and also banned from owning a dog again.

Her son, John-Paul's uncle Christian Foulkes, 21, pleaded guilty to owning the animal and was jailed for four months in June.

Sentencing the grandmother, bench chairman Ian Lomax told Foulkes: "I don't need to remind you of the consequences. It is as extreme as you can get - the death of your grandson. You will have to live with that for the rest of your life."

Foulkes, of Ash Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool, was supported at the hearing by several relatives, including her daughter and John-Paul's mother, Angela McGlynn.

On the night the boy was killed, November 29, he was staying at her home where her son also lived.

The little boy had woken up at around midnight and said he was hungry so his grandmother went to get him a packet of crisps.

By the time she returned John-Paul was already asleep again so she opened the crisps to give them to the dog.

But as she did, Uno pounced at John-Paul. She tried to force the dog off her grandson and was attacked herself as a result.

It was later decided by police to destroy the dog, and it took two bullets to kill it.