Owner spared jail over her German Shepherd's savage attack on postman

A WOMAN has avoided jail after her German Shepherd savagely clamped its jaws around a postman's arm before biting his buttocks.

- AMY WALKER

Adele Cassidy, 57, had been ordered to keep her dog, Ellie, in a securely locked cage and undergo animal training after a previous attack in 2020.

However, Cassidy ignored the court order and, in August last year, as her postman was delivering to her postbox attached to the outside of her fence, the dog slipped under and clamped down on his arm. The dog then bit him on the buttocks before she was pulled away by Cassidy and her son. He was left with numerous injuries requiring surgery.

Cassidy pleaded guilty to being an owner in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury and was handed a suspended sentence. Her dog, Ellie, was made the subject of a destruction order.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard that on August 5 last year, the man, who has been a postman for 21 years at the Royal Mail, was delivering his usual route in Lymm. At around 12.30pm, he was walking down the open drive of a neighbouring property to put post in Cassidy's postbox, which was attached to her fence, when he heard a dog barking from within her garden.