A three-year-old girl may never be able to smile again after being scarred for life by a 'devil dog' who had savaged another child months earlier.
The owner of the powerful Japanese Akita fighting dog escaped prosecution for the first attack, which left the boy, 7, requiring 40 stitches, because the animal was on 'secured' property.
But the family of first victim Charlie Faulding were furious the dog wasn't put down and were taking legal action against its owner when another neighbour's child was seriously mauled last week.
Toddler Demi Franklyn was playing with the dog called Tyson outside her home when it suddenly turned on her - breaking her jaw and leaving her with horrific wounds to her head and neck.
The damage to her facial muscles and nerves is so severe she may not be able to smile properly again. The girl's mother, Mary Davies, 39, said she had left her daughter playing in their back yard - which they share with Tyson's owner - unaware the dog had a violent history.
Demi has undergone one operation at Bradford Royal Infirmary and doctors may need to carry out reconstructive surgery on her jaw as well.
Mother-of-five Miss Davies of Shipley, West Yorkshire, said: 'I am in shock. I just don't understand how this could have happened. That animal had a taste for blood and nothing was done about it. It beggars belief.
'I just want to know why that dog wasn't put down after the first attack. Something wasn't done that should have been and it is my daughter who has paid the price.'
Last June Charlie was savaged when his football bounced into the dog owner's garden three doors away and he went to retrieve it.
The schoolboy suffered severe injuries to his head and legs.
His father Mark Faulding, 36, was alerted by the boy's 12-year-old sister and found him lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
He fought off the dog to rescue him from the neighbour's garden.
Charlie still bears the scars of the savaging and has been left traumatised by the experience, suffering nightmares and refusing to sleep alone. The family has since moved house.
Mr Faulding, a horse trainer, said: 'It is disgusting. To think the dog's owner left this animal unguarded and near children.
'He knew what this dog was capable of but he didn't stop this little girl playing near it. It is simply unbelievable. It didn't even have a muzzle on.
'We have been fighting to have this devil dog destroyed since Charlie was attacked and the only thing that made that happen was another attack on an even younger child. That child could have died.'
The dog's owner Mohammed Asam Bashir has now had Tyson put down. The first attack happened at his family home, where the dog was kept in a secure pen behind a wall and padlocked gate.
The second attack was at his business address at a different location.
Mr Bashir has been unavailable for comment.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed the dog had been 'destroyed' and the attack on Demi was currently under investigation.
'We can confirm this dog was previously involved in an incident which resulted in no further action being taken at the time due to the circumstances,' he said.
Police decided no offence had been committed in the first incident as the dog was kept at home and secured in the garden. The boy had previously been advised not to retrieve the football unaccompanied.
* Britain hit by biggest snowfall in 18 years * Anger as London bus service is totally cancelled * One in five workers take the day off * Brothers found dead on Mount Snowdon * Thousands of schools closed due to treacherous roads * Huge tailbacks despite warning drivers should stay home
Britain's worst snowfall for 18 years is set to last all week - and could cost the country's economy up to £3 billion.
Around one in five workers stayed at home today, according to a poll, and many are likely to fail to show up for work tomorrow.
Those who did make it into work this morning faced a battle to get home tonight after the Arctic weather caused widespread chaos.
Roads were blocked, airports closed, train services stopped and almost 3,000 schools closed due to the massive snowfall.
With roads blocked, much of London's bus service still out of action and many underground lines suspended, it is feared some in the capital may end up stranded.
Business chiefs estimated the cost of the bad weather to the economy would be £1.2billion but that it could rise to £3billion by the end of the week.
A police officer who had been on the beat for just six days kept up the chase for his first suspect - even after tripping over and getting a six-inch stick impaled in his eye.
New officer John Nash slipped on a muddy lawn, sliding into a bush before dusting himself off and continuing to make an arrest.
But it was only when his suspect turned to him and said: 'Mate, you've got to go to hospital,' did he notice the broken-off branch sticking out of his left eye.
Pc Nash, aged 25, was in an unmarked police vehicle following two cars which were being driven erratically on an estate in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, when one of the cars was abandoned.
Two men ran off and the officer gave chase, cornering one in a dead end.
Pc Nash said: 'I had run across some grass to cut him off just as he got to a fence and drew my baton just as I got there.
'The weather was horrible - It was dark, cold and raining. The grass was boggy and I slipped.
'I was really motoring, really running and I slid into a shrub and I had a ringing in my left ear. I thought I'd hit my baton as I fell.
'The suspect was still trying to get over the fence and I grabbed his ankle. He kept referring to my face and I said: "That doesn't matter - come on". I just thought I'd given myself a black eye.
'Somebody said: "Get an ambulance quick - he's got something in his eye". I wondered whether he was talking about me.
'I looked across with my right eye and that's when I noticed a stick coming out of my left eye.
'I thought: "what the heck is that?"' His shocked colleagues immediately took him to hospital in their patrol car, before he underwent three hours of surgery to remove the stick.
It had pierced his eye-lid, smashed a cheek-bone, forced itself underneath his eye-ball and come to rest up against his brain - surgeons told him was lucky to be alive.
He was discharged after three days and has retained some sight in the eye, which he hopes will eventually return to normal.
Surgeon Annaswami Vijaykumar, who operated on the eye at Blackburn Royal Hospital, said: 'If the piece of wood had entered a couple of millimetres differently the eye would have been permanently damaged. The operation was extremely complicated.
'The officer is very fortunate and lucky to be able to see again, currently the vision is limited at present but may improve with time.' Pc Nash added: 'I would do the same again tomorrow. I love my job. I've always wanted to be in the police. It sounds corny but I've always wanted to help people.'
'Before the surgery I was told I might lose the sight of the eye and brain damage was likely,' he said.
'They told Rebecca it was life-threatening. Luckily, it only touched my brain and they managed to get it out.'
Rebecca said: 'I think it's just a miracle. I'm so proud of what he's done.'
Insp Ian Hanson, of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: 'Although John was extremely lucky, I suppose it shows the dangers that officers across Greater Manchester face on a daily basis.
The 20-year-old suspect arrested was later released without charge.
As stunts go, baiting a Great White Shark to take you for a ride by towing your surfboard is an adrenalin rush unlikely to be matched again.
A video purporting to show just this has swept around the world via email in the last few days.
But there's just one small problem - does the footage show a foolhardy daredevil or is it a hoax?
Photographer Kem McNair claims he captured the hair-raising moment on home video from the shore at Florida's New Smyrna beach.
He said the stunt - dubbed 'shark-riding' - has become the latest, and most dangerous, extreme sports craze in more than a decade.
In his video, a 25-year-old male surfer is filmed being dragged along by a fishing line after baiting a shark with chunks of bloodied steak.
Clutching a fishing rod with meat on the hook, the clip begins with the surfer jumping off a pier into the sea. He casts his bait into the water and watches as a 4ft dorsal fin appears on the horizon and heads straight for the line.
After chomping on the bait the shark swims off with the surfer being dragged behind on his board, clutching the fishing line with both hands like a water-skier.
He reaches speeds of approximately 30mph as he races past stunned onlookers enjoying a dip in the sea. After 30 seconds the line snaps and the shark disappears back into the abyss.
Mr McNair insists that what he captured on film has not been faked.
He said: 'I just happened to be panning the camera across the bay when I spotted this dude paddling around with a fishing rod.
'It was so bizarre I had to keep watching watching and it was just a fluke that I captured what happened next.
'He was surfing the breaks as a shark towed him along. The guy must be totally suicidal but it was rad to watch.
'I know a shark when I see one - and this was no hoax. I've got friends who can call any doubters up and set them straight.'
Great Whites are common in waters off Florida. While they usually remain in deep water, Great Whites often venture closer to shore - especially when attracted by floating chunks of meat.
But Hubble – branded Britain’s ugliest dog – is more concerned about burying bones and fetching sticks.
Yet that didn’t stop his owners leaving the eight-year-old tied up in a wood a fortnight ago due to his less-than-handsome looks. Luckily the mongrel, who was left disfigured after being injured in his youth, was saved by bighearted animal rescue workers.
And now they are looking to find the unsightly pooch a new, more loving owner – preferably someone who prefers personality to looks.
Amanda Sands, the manager of the Dogs Trust centre in Leeds, said the black terrier-type cross looked even worse when he was first brought in.
He had several rotting canine teeth and infected gums, which were removed and treated with antibiotics.
She said: ‘Hubble is one of the strangest looking dogs I’ve ever seen but he makes up for it in personality. Even though he looks quite odd it kind of gives him a cute factor.
‘He’s very loyal and just loves human company so he would make a brilliant best friend for that special person who can see past what he looks like.
‘It’s a shame but ordinarily we would expect him to stay here for quite some time.
‘People do tend to come and pick the cuter dogs. The others - our “sticky dogs” - can be here for months.
‘Hubble is definitely a bit unusual but he’s a very sweet dog. It would be a shame if someone missed out on him because of what he looks like.
'He’s a great little dog. ‘Hubble’s injury to his mouth appears to be an old one. He is not in any pain and is entirely healthy. ‘He would be best suited to a home with only adults or older children and no other pets, so he can be the centre of attention.
Ms Sands said: ‘It’s sad but sometimes people do abandon pets who don’t look “normal”. It can be for a number of reasons and unfortunately that is one of them.
‘I don’t think that Hubble is aware of his unusual looks. He’s confidence has grown every day since he arrived and we love him to bits.
‘It will sad to see him go but we’re always overjoyed when one of our dogs goes to a good home.’
The Dogs Trust has recently been hit hard by the credit crunch, with more people wanting to get rid of their pets and less people prepared to take them on.
Ms Sands added: ‘We have about 100 dogs in at the moment, but if we had the room that would be hundreds.
‘We have a waiting list full of people who tell us they want us to take in their dog.’ Anyone brave enough to adopt Hubble or find out more about the Dogs Trust can call 0113 281 4920.
A science fan has had Professor Stephen Hawking's face tattooed on his leg - in tribute to the 66-year-old brainbox.
Jack Newton, 23, decided to have his right leg inked with the theoretical physicist's face after reading his best-selling book A Brief History of Time - even though he didn't understand a word of it.
The tattoo - complete with a Monty Python line from the classic Life of Brian film 'He's not the messiah. He's a very naughty boy' written underneath it - has already won two trophies at tattoo conventions.
Mr Newton of Brighton, said: 'I read A Brief History of Time, but to be honest I didn't understand a word, but I respect the man and that's why I got his face tattooed on my leg.
'He has worked on some ground-breaking scientific research and is an amazing example of how illness does not necessarily stop a man from doing great things.
'He's an inspiration to us all.'
Jack, a trainee artist at the Angelic Hall tattoo studios in Brighton, spent seven hours being inked by tattoo artist Stewart Francis। Stephen Hawking, who has an IQ of 152, suffers from a type of motor neuron disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - or Lou Gehrig's disease - which means he has almost no neuromuscular control.
Even the most ardent gardener can find trimming the hedge a bit of a chore. But next time you pick up the shears with a heavy heart, count yourself lucky you don't have this giant to contend with.
Towering 40ft into the sky, it is the tallest yew hedge in Britain. And however unkempt your borders look, tidying them up is a doddle in comparison with the mammoth job involved in maintaining it.
For it takes no less than a pair of workers, a cherry-picker and two days of solid hard work, costing more than £5,000, to give the 300 year old hedge on Lord Allen Apsley's Bathurst Estate in the Cotswolds its annual trim. All the graft does not just result in an immaculate looking garden, either. The cutting back of six inches of new growth this year produced more than a ton of clippings, which are then used to produce a life-saving cancer drug.
Yews produce compounds called taxanes which can stop the creation of new cells, and are thus invaluable to halt the growth of tumours.
The Bathurst clippings are collected by an agency which then sells them on to pharmaceutical companies who chemically extract the taxane from the clippings, purify it, and convert it into the chemotherapy drug docetaxel.
The drug has helped thousands of women in Britain overcome breast and ovarian cancer, and is also used to treat cancers of the lung and head. The hedge is 33ft wide and stretches for 150 yards along the side of Lord Apsley's historic mansion near Cirencester.
As this year's trim was under way, he said: 'It runs right along the front of the house. You can actually see it from the town as it's taller than the wall.
'It's difficult to know exactly how old it is, but we think it was planted in about 1710.'
The 47-year-old father-of-two described how the hedge has pride of place in his garden, running in a semi-circle around the house.
He said: 'Cutting it isn't too dangerous but you do have to be careful. Luckily a man called Tim Day has been cutting it for 35 years so I think he knows what he's doing.'
Before cherry pickers were used in recent years, teams of staff at the estate used to climb up onto rickety ladders leaned together in an A-shape to trim the bush with garden shears. Lord Apsley said: 'It must have been a very dangerous operation which took many people a long time to complete.'
The Apsley family have been on the estate since 1695 and use most of its 14,500 acres to grow crops.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's tallest hedge of any type is the beech hedge at Meikleour in Perthshire, which ranges from 80ft to 120ft.
Would-be owners are will happily wait up to a year and will travel any distance to get their hands on an African pygmy hedgehog.
The cute pets are a quarter of the size of a normal hedgehog and are fully domesticated and don't carry diseases or fleas.
They love being handled and rarely curl up in a defensive ball. The animals were first bred in captivity less than 10 years ago in America but have recently been introduced to the British pet market.
Breeder Bonnie Martin, 35, said: "There are only eight serious breeders in the country and we can't keep up with demand.
"I have a waiting list that is 20 strong, which is about five litters and will take about a year to clear. One man in Edinburgh is waiting to pick one up.
"They are incredibly cute and can fit in the palm of your hand. They are just as cute as a hamster or a guinea pig but they have the added wow and novelty factor.
"They are a very easy pet to handle and cheaper to maintain than a cat." African Pygmy Hedgehogs are a cross between an Algerian and White Bellied hedgehog and were bred in the US about 20 years ago.
They are born pink and the most common colour is a chocolate brown, however it is possible to get albino varieties. They grow to just two pounds in weight and eight inches in length and have a lifespan of between three and five years.
Unlike hamsters, they are carnivorous and feed on a diet of cat food, chicken, beef mince and turkey.
As they are nocturnal the cute critters come alive at night and can run up to eight miles a night on an exercise wheel.
Mrs Martin, from Fairford, Glos, started breeding them last year and has a 'stud' hedgehog called Mr Pig and four females, which produce two litters a year.
She said: "Mr Pig has fathered two very healthy litters already and I am waiting for more. "The males reach sexual maturity at five months and the gestation period for females is anything between 32 to 50 days. They normally produce three or four babies per litter.
"There is a popular misconception that all hedgehogs carry fleas, but that is only in the wild and just like a fox or badger would have them.
"They are a very convenient pet because they sleep during the day when you are at work and wake up when you sit down in the evening.
"They aren't a problem at night. I have got three living in my bedroom and they don't bother me.
"They are shy creatures and you do have to put a lot of effort in into taming them. After that they won't tend to roll up in a ball because they are used to being handled."
The current British population of African Pygmies is about 300, which are registered and have lineage certificates.
