Police drop bid to put down dog which bit people after Storm Doris
A police force has withdrawn an application to put down a dog which escaped from a garden during Storm Doris and attacked several people.
Muppet and Phoebe fled from a house in Duston, Northampton, in February last year as Britain was battered by heavy winds, rain and snow.
Four people needed medical treatment after being bitten by the dogs and Phoebe was shot dead by police at the scene.
Muppett - a cross-breed Lurcher-Whippet Staffordshire Bull Terrier - was seized, with police requesting a civil destruction order.
Jeffrey Penfold, the dog's owner, refused to sign the order and the two parties were due to meet at Wellingborough Magistrates' Court to determine the dog's fate.
However, before the hearing on Thursday, Mr Penfold and Northamptonshire Police reached an agreement that such an order would not be made as it was "completely out of character for Muppett".
James Parry, speaking on behalf of Mr Penfold, said: "The dog is unlikely to bite anyone in a public place if it is kept under control."
Chair of Magistrates Vivienne Bernard ordered that Muppett be suitably secured, muzzled in public at all times and to be under the control of someone over the age of 16 when out in public.
