A DOG that savaged a young boy in the street will be put down if its owner doesn't implement stringent control measures, a judge has ordered.

Robert Charles Hawksby, 66, hadn't done enough to protect the public after his American Akita had attacked a young girl some months earlier, said Judge Simon Hickey.

York Crown Court heard how the boy had to spend three nights in hospital and undergo treatment under a general anaesthetic for his injuries.

Retired painter decorator Hawksby, of Barkston Avenue, Chapelfields, pleaded guilty to failure to keep his dog under proper control when it injured someone.

The judge said: "This was a nasty and unpleasant incident for the little boy who was involved. He was only nine years old and on the colour footage that I have watched he was simply out and about on his scooter."

He said the dog had held the boy's leg for 20 seconds when it was "clearly cutting him with its powerful jaws".

He made a contingency destruction order for the dog with conditions that whenever the dog is out in the public, it must now wear a basket type muzzle and must be on a double click lead, a maximum of three metres long, attached to a flat collar round the dog's neck and a harness round its body.

It cannot be exercised by anyone under 18 years old.

The judge warned Hawksby: "If you breach any of this, the dog will be destroyed."

He said that Hawksby's decision to only exercise the dog on a short lead following the attack on the girl was not enough.

He also ordered Hawksby to pay £400 compensation to the boy and gave him an 18-month community order with 80 hours' unpaid work.

Brooke Morrison, prosecuting, said the boy was riding his scooter in Chapelfields at 5.25pm on October 14 when the Akita, called Bella, had lunged at him and grabbed him without warning.

Hawksby tried to pull the dog off him and after a struggle succeeded.

The dog continued to be aggressive and had to be pinned to the ground to stop him grabbing the boy again.

The boy suffered deep lacerations on his left leg, said the barrister.

According to his father, he appeared to have made a full recovery.

A few months earlier, the dog had attacked a young girl in her garden and given her a two-inch cut and ripped her skirt.

For Hawksby, Tom Jackson said he was very sorry for the two attacks and had immediately acted to end the attack on the boy.

He had installed high fences round his garden after the first attack.

He himself had suffered trauma as a result of the attack on the boy.