Dog owner avoids jail over frenzied mauling by Staffordshire bull terrier than left toddler needing 240 stitches.

      

A toddler suffered horrific injuries and needed more than 240 stitches to her face and three hours of specialist surgery after a Staffordshire bull terrier attacked her at her home, nearly biting off her nose.  Mayzee-Jo Gaspa was just 18 months old when the dog savaged her as she stood next to her mother in their kitchen in Archway, North London. Today at Blackfriars Crown Court Gemma Neil, 29, the owner of  'Gully', was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place causing injury to a child.

But the court heard instead of killing the animal, the dog sprang up and trotted off towards a group of children.

Following the attack Mayzee-Jo was left drenched in blood with half her nose severed and wounds to her lip and cheek. She is scarred for life. After being rushed to St Bartholomew's Hospital Mayzee-Jo needed three hours of specialist plastic surgery to reattach her nose.

Her mother said Mayzee lost four teeth in the attack and will need ongoing care and at least one more operation - in which surgeons will need to re-break her nose - as her face grows. The scar stretches from her nose all the way across her left cheek and down to her lip. Neil was sentenced to four months, suspended for two years, and ordered to attended a drug rehabilitation programmed.

Speaking following the sentencing Ms Dew said: 'There really has been no justice for Mayzee.  For allowing a dog to do what it did to a child, I really expected her to be behind bars. 'It's outrageous that something so horrible can happen and she can be allowed to walk free. 'It just shows that dogs, even the ones that their owners think are good-natured, can be dangerous and have devastating consequences.

'Especially around babies, dogs should be muzzled and kept on a short lead, or better yet, kept away all together.

'You never can never know what will make a dog snap or what it will do. I don't think I'll ever let my kids be around dogs again.'