A dog on death row got a last-minute reprieve toda

A dog on death row got a last-minute reprieve today (wed) when a judge reversed a previous order to have it killed.

Lea-ann Tyler, 33, was found guilty of owning a dog dangerously out of control in public last month.

And since then her six-year-old Alsatian Rocky has been effectively on death row after a destruction order was placed on him.

Rocky received the death sentence after he sunk his fangs into student 17-year-old Nida Shiravand’s behind in October last year.

But today the judge, Mr Recorder Peter Thornton, QC, ordered Miss Tyler to pay pnds stlg 50 compensation to Miss Shiravand, of (333) Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, Middsx instead.

Andrew Rodger, prosecuting, said that Rocky had ran out onto the pavement outside Miss Tyler’s home in Beryl Road, Hammersmith and bit Miss Shiravand, a passer-by, on her bottom.

Miss Shiravand’s jeans were ripped and there were two fang-marks left behind, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

When a police officer rushed to the scene he saw a big Alsatian barking loudly and leaping up inside Miss Tyler’s home.

‘But when Miss Tyler told the dog to calm down it became quiet,’ Mr Rodger said.

Miss Tyler told police ‘the only reason the dog was out on the street on that occasion was because the catch on the front door had broken.

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As soon as she realised Rocky had bitten Miss Shiravand she suggested the girl got a tetanus jab.

Despite her injuries Miss Shiravand did not want Rocky put down and the police officer at the original trial in a magistrates court had suggested a restraining order.

Simon Gruchy, defending, said that Miss Tyler was the full-time carer for her two children, aged 11 and 12.

As the dog was nearly six it would soon become physically handicapped as Alsatians tend to suffer limb problems in their old age.

The court heard that there had been problems with children at a nearby school baiting the dog.

But Miss Tyler now orders the dog to stay upstairs when children are passing by.

After the judge lifted Rocky’s death sentence, Miss Tyler said outside court:

‘Rocky’s been on good behaviour since the incident.

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Asked if she had served him a special dinner on the morning of the appeal – potentially his last – she said: ‘I always give him special meals.

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ends