A LONGFORD man has been handed a 12-month suspended sentence for owning an out of control dog which bit a six-year-old girl.

James Adam Norbury of Densham Avenue, owned Max, an American Akita, when it attacked the child on May 1, last year.

The 28-year-old appeared in Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where he defended himself.

The prosecution explained how the dog came in from outside and entered the kitchen where a child had wandered.

It started to growl at the child then bit her, clinging to her arm for two seconds before Mr Norbury fought it off.

The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sustained a bite to her arm and was taken to hospital where she received treatment.

The dog has since been put down.

Norbury pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury and was ordered to pay the child £500 in compensation on top of the 12-month suspended sentence he received.

Addressing the court, he said: “I’m sorry. If I could take it back I would, I didn’t want to see any kid get harmed.”

The magistrate also banned Norbury from owning a dog in the next 10 years.