Barking! After 11 months magistrates decide this sausage dog isn't dangerous

Standing 8 inches from the floor, Lucy the miniature Dachshund is unlikely to strike fear into many hearts.

But when a neighbour claimed the Hobson family's dog had nipped him on the ankle, the authorities took drastic action.

Charging Lucy's owner under the Dangerous Dogs Act, they proceeded to court.

It took 11 months, five court appearances and a mountain of paperwork before magistrates finally conceded that the three-year-old sausage dog presented no threat.

Lucy's ordeal began when her owner Melanie Hobson, 26, returned home from the supermarket in October with her two children, Monique, two, and Jacob, four.

She let Lucy off the lead and started carrying in the shopping from the car, a court was told.

But moments later she was confronted by her neighbour, Shaun Anderson, 25, a landscape gardener who lived in the flat above, in Gosforth, Newcastle.

He claimed Lucy had run round his legs before biting him on the ankle.

As Monique picked the animal up, he shouted: "If your dog bites me again, I will have you done."

Ignoring Mrs Hobson's protestations, he returned to his flat. Thirty minutes later, his mother-in-law called the police.

Mr Anderson told Newcastle Magistrates: "I was more or less inconsolable. It grabbed my jeans and ran in between my legs and bit my right leg."

Police visited Mrs Hobson that day. A month later they returned to interview her, despite there being no sign of injury to Mr Anderson or to his trousers.

Officers agreed Lucy was "very cute" - and after reassuring Mrs Hobson the dog was unlikely to be destroyed, they charged her with having a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place.

The charge came after she refused to accept a caution.

The 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, brought in by the Tory government, banned certain breeds but also laid the legal blame for attacks on the owners.

Those convicted face a fine of up to £5,000 or six months in jail. Dogs must be destroyed.

Magistrates yesterday took 30 minutes to clear Mrs Hobson, who said afterwards: "It's ridiculous this ever came to court."

The entire case is thought to have cost about £1,500.

The Crown Prosecution Service said there had been a report of the dog biting previously. It said: "Small dogs can, and sometimes do, cause injury if they bite."