Story filed: 14:04 Friday 22nd June 2001

A three-year-old boy has had a toe bitten off and needed 40 stitches to his face and body after being mauled by two Staffordshire bull terrier puppies.

Connor Davies was only saved from death when the dogs were driven away by a neighbour armed with a crowbar who witnessed the attack, his father, Darren, said.

The unmuzzled puppies leapt on Connor and savagely attacked him as he played outside his grandmother's house in New Denham, Buckinghamshire with his five-year-old sister Jordan.

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The youngster, a pupil at Longmead Nursery School in West Drayton, north-west London, underwent 13 hours of surgery following last Friday's attack, returning home only yesterday to be with his mother Shelley, 27.

Doctors were unable to reattach his severed toe.

Connor's grandmother, Jackie Walker, 46, who lives in New Denham said the dogs clamped their jaws on to the child and refused to let go until threatened with the crowbar.

She said: "Connor didn't stand a chance. The dogs were all over him and just wouldn't let go. It was horrible."

Mr Davies, 32, a self-employed signwriter, said: "These dogs should never have been let loose and should definitely have been muzzled.

"The owner said he had destroyed the dogs immediately after the attack but we believe they are still very much alive. It's shocking what has happened to Connor and he's very badly traumatised."

The dogs are believed to belong to a local builder and Thames Valley Police have begun an investigation into the attack. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989, magistrates can order dogs to be destroyed if owners do not keep them under strict control.

The youngster, a pupil at Longmead Nursery School in West Drayton, north-west London, underwent 13 hours of surgery following last Friday's attack, returning home only yesterday to be with his mother Shelley, 27.

Doctors were unable to reattach his severed toe.

Connor's grandmother, Jackie Walker, 46, who lives in New Denham said the dogs clamped their jaws on to the child and refused to let go until threatened with the crowbar.

She said: "Connor didn't stand a chance. The dogs were all over him and just wouldn't let go. It was horrible."

Mr Davies, 32, a self-employed signwriter, said: "These dogs should never have been let loose and should definitely have been muzzled.

"The owner said he had destroyed the dogs immediately after the attack but we believe they are still very much alive. It's shocking what has happened to Connor and he's very badly traumatised."

The dogs are believed to belong to a local builder and Thames Valley Police have begun an investigation into the attack. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989, magistrates can order dogs to be destroyed if owners do not keep them under strict control.

Copyright © 2001 Ananova Ltd

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