A DRUNK man bit his partner’s lip and did nothing as she was savaged by the family’s banned ‘fighting’ dog which will now be destroyed.

John Pugh tried to kiss his then partner at home in Malvern but, when she refused, he bit her lip and dragged her around by the hair before he let the family dog, a Pit Bull Terrier called Odin, attack her.

The 29-year-old, now of Clarence Place, Tenbury Wells, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, having a dog that was dangerously out of control and possession of a prohibited breed of dog - a fighting dog - when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday. Since it has been in kennels Odin has also bitten two more people and incurred kennel costs of £8,640 which the defendant, who is on Universal Credit, was not asked to pay. John Brotherton, prosecuting said that on August 3 last year Pugh and his then partner had been drinking at the Bakery Inn in Malvern ahead of her birthday when an argument ensured. They were spoken to by police with an officer even giving the couple a lift home. However, when they got home the couple continued to argue. Pugh attempted to kiss the complainant.

“She didn’t want that. The defendant bit her to the lip, grabbed her hair which was in a ponytail and pulled her to the floor” said Mr Brotherton.

During the course of the attack she stumbled and fell downstairs. The family dog joined in, attacking her. She believed the dog to be a Staffordshire Bull Terrier but experts have identified it as a banned Pit Bull Terrier which bit her several times to the back, legs and buttocks. The defendant also grabbed her by the neck. She was described as kicking out at the dog during the struggle.

When she attempted to call police Pugh blocked her way and took the phone before she fled the house by jumping through a first floor window. She had to attend a minor injuries unit in Ledbury, suffering from 'multiple superficial contusions' and grazes and abrasions. Pugh, who has a record for dishonesty including for burglary, was arrested and taken to Worcester Police Station. He said it was the complainant who had let the dog out of the bedroom and told officers she had been pushing and pulling at him. Richard Hull, defending, said he had expressed remorse and not consumed alcohol since the incident.

Judge Martin Jackson sentenced him to two months in prison suspended for two years and ordered him to complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £800 in compensation to the victim who had been 'very scared'. He did not disqualify Pugh from keeping a dog, as requested by the prosecution, but ordered the destruction of Odin. A restraining order prohibits any contact with his former partner except via a third party for the purposes of childcare and from attending her address in Elgar Avenue, Malvern.