A LEADING Worcestershire dog breeder has been ordered to pay nearly £1,000 after his English bull terrier escaped from his home and savaged a passer-by.

But Babe, an eight-year-old bitch, escaped a death sentence at Worcester Crown Court provided it is kept under control in future by owner Brian Hefford.

Hefford, aged 63, of Elmstone Close, Hunt End, was fined £250 with £738 costs after pleading guilty to owning a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control.

Babe, running loose without a collar, frightened a woman with a baby on October 5 last year before attacking a 15-year-old collie cross being walked by Glyn Evans, said Brett Stephenson, prosecuting.

In trying to separate the dogs, Mr Evans was bitten on the hand. Tendons were exposed and he needed hospital treatment. There is a civil damages case pending.

Jason Aris, defending, said that Hefford's garden was fenced and Babe must have escaped through a hole made by a badger. The dog was normally docile.

Hefford had been breeding and showing dogs for 42 years. He had shown at Crufts and been featured in Dog World, the trade magazine. He had four dogs but was no longer breeding because of the expense.

Judge Michael Mott accepted that the incident had not happened deliberately and that Hefford was a responsible person as his history of breeding and showing demonstrated.

But members of the public were apprehensive about the breed of dog, which could cause extreme alarm and physical injury when they ran amok.

He did not think it fair to order the dog to be destroyed but he made an order which meant it would be destroyed if it was not kept under control. He did not order compensation because of the civil proceedings.