Two sheep destroyed after '˜savage' dog attack in Louth

Julie Esprit, 43, of St Bernards Avenue, admitted being the owner of a 
dog which worried livestock, when she appeared at Skegness Magistrates’ 
Court.

Nick Todd, prosecuting, said that on January 4, Mrs Esprit took her dog Dexter, a rescue labrador/rottweiler cross which she had owned for two years, for a walk between 9.30 and 10.30am along Stewton Lane, Louth, which is a public footpath.

She let the dog off the lead and it ran off into the fields where there were flocks of sheep, many of 
them in lamb.

He said the dog worried and savaged the sheep and she was unable to get hold of him so went home to get her car and return, by which time the dog had been caught by a farm worker.

Mr Todd said that two sheep had to be put down, and a ram was ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

The total cost of the damage, including vet’s bills and repairs to fences, was £1,882, he said.

Mrs Esprit said the dog was ‘normally very well behaved’ and usually came back when it was called.

“I don’t know why he did it this time,” she told the magistrates.

She told them the dog now wears a muzzle and is not let off the lead.

Mrs Esprit was fined £100 and ordered to pay the full compensation of £1,882. There was no order for costs or charges.