JPs take pity on country estate hunting dog that tore lumps of flesh from a woman's leg

• Akita dog Fiji must now be muzzed whenever he's roaming outside owner's five acre garden
• Wealthy owner Brian Thornton is chairman of Gloucestershire County Council
• Victim Helen Bromfield was forced to have skin grafts and spent two weeks in hospital

By Andy Dolan for the Daily Mail
Updated: 05:12 EST, 16 February 2012

A dog that tore ‘lumps of flesh’ from a woman it savaged on a country estate was spared death after magistrates took pity on the ‘beautifully behaved’ animal.

Helen Bromfield was left permanently disfigured after the Akita – a Japanese hunting dog – attacked her as it ran loose on the estate owned by county council chairman Brian Thornton and his wife Verity.

The court heard how Mrs Bromfield, 52, feared she was going to be killed by the animal, which pounced as she lifted her own dog from her car.

The attack took place just yards from the lodge where Mrs Bromfield lived with her gamekeeper partner David in the estate’s 50-acre deer park.

Mrs Bromfield, who also worked  on the estate, told police that the dog should be destroyed.

However, as Akitas are not classified as illegal under the Dangerous Dogs Act it was left to magistrates to decide the fate of the dog, a male called Fuji.

And after it was brought into the courtroom to meet them, they elected to let it live.

Sharon Jomaa, prosecuting, had told Gloucester Magistrates Court that Fuji ‘sank his teeth’ into Mrs Bromfield’s leg, ‘knocking her to the floor’ at the  Priors Mesne estate in  Aylburton, Gloucestershire.

She added: ‘Helen felt Fuji was tearing her leg apart and saw lumps of flesh flying off. She was very frightened and thought that Fuji was going to kill her.’

Mrs Bromfield, who now lives in Somerset, needed surgery and a skin graft, and spent two weeks in hospital.

Mrs Jomaa added: ‘She is angry at what happened and has nightmares and flashbacks.

'She would hate that to happen to someone else, especially a child, and thinks that Fuji should be destroyed.’

However, after the dog made an appearance, its life was spared. Instead, the court ordered for Fuji to be muzzled and kept on a lead whenever it was outside a five-acre section of garden on the estate.

Mr Thornton, 74, told magistrates that he only agreed to allow Mrs Bromfield and her boyfriend to keep their own dog on the estate if it was a female.

Instead, he said, they bought a male lurcher, Blade. The court also heard that Fuji had been kept apart from Blade for four years prior to the incident.

Mr Thornton said: ‘This was an accident waiting to happen, as Fuji is a dominant dog which will not tolerate other male dogs on its territory.’

Speaking after the case, he said: ‘We are very relieved he’s not going to be destroyed. He’s a beautifully behaved dog.

‘We often have visits from schools to the deer park where there are up to 50 children and there’s never been a problem.’

Mrs Thornton, 73, said she was ‘extremely sorry for what happened’ and had arranged for the couple to be compensated.

She admitted being the owner of a dog not under proper control following the incident last September.

Priors Mesne boasts a nine-bedroom house with views of the Severn Estuary and Cotswolds, and gardens that are regularly opened to the public. It was the setting for the 1985 film The Assam Garden.

Akitas originate from the mountainous northern regions of Japan. They have been used as fighting dogs but were bred primarily for hunting and can easily bring down prey such as deer and bears.

The Akita Association recommends that the ‘powerful’ animals should never be allowed to roam unattended.

Roberta Wright, the group’s chairman, said: ‘Personally, I would not have an Akita running loose on a big estate. They are hunting dogs and it is very difficult to get them back on a lead when running free in your average field, let alone a big estate full of wildlife.’