A MALVERN dog lover feared a pit bull terrier worth nearly £1,000 was being stolen from her house to be used for fighting, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Dorothy Philpott said she was looking after Molly, a pedigree English pit bull, for a friend. She had four dogs of her own at her home in Langlands Avenue, and had put Molly in the kitchen.

At 4.15am on July 19 last year, she was woken up by the security monitor in her bedroom. She said she had been troubled by prowlers and had installed a CCTV system.

The jury was shown a video taken from the security cameras at Miss Philpott's home from which she had identified the intruder as 21-year-old Neil Pederson, who has denied burglary.

John Brotherton, prosecuting, said the question was one of identification. The face of the man on the video was not visible but Miss Philpott said she was certain it was Pederson.

She said he had been to school with her daughter and had visited her house, and she could tell it was him by the distinctive way he walked.

After hearing the intruder, she went outside shouting at him to drop Molly.

She said he tried to lift the terrier over the gate but had to drop the dog before running off.

" I thought she was being taken for fighting purposes," Miss Philpott said.

Kimberley Aiken, defending, said Miss Philpott had not identified the intruder either on the bedroom monitor, or under the security lights, and had the videotape replayed several times at the police station some days later before naming Pederson, of Elgar Avenue, Malvern.

The case continues.