Dangerous dogs cause terror

By Celia Paul

VICIOUS dogs owned by teenage yobs have caused terror in an Islington park, attacking young children and intimidating residents.

Locals are concerned that a group of teenage boys gather at Barnard Park in Barnsbury with Staffordshire bull terriers, rottweilers, and, allegedly, illegally bred pit-bull terriers.

Mother of two Jennifer Christie faced an alarming ordeal two weeks ago when her son Finlay, aged seven, was attacked. She was walking him across the park to school when a dog jumped at him and knocked him over.

She said: “I realised the dog had its mouth over my son’s face and they were rolling across the ground. I was terrified, we were both crying.”

Finlay was physically unharmed, but she said: “He was really shaken up. He was begging me to find another route to school.”
It is believed the dog owners come from nearby housing estates in Barnsbury and Caledonian Road.

Richard Smith, estate manager for the Half-Moon Crescent Tenant’s Co-operative, confirmed a teenage boy there had had a lucky escape last month after being bitten.

Mr Smith said: “The dog looked like a pit-bull and the boy was really shaken up, but fortunately he wasn’t badly hurt.”

Dogs are a daily sight in the rundown park. Resident James Kelly accused boys of deliberately attempting to make the dogs “more vicious”.

He said: “A gang of boys come to the park all the time to exercise the dogs. It’s like a competition to see who has the hardest ones.”

Barnard Park, one of Islington’s few green spaces, is home to a children’s playgroup and an adventure playground.

Nanny Maureen Towndrow said: “I see them here every week. It’s very worrying - I always keep the children close. Kids are so vulnerable to dog attacks.”

Rottweilers and Staffordshire bull terriers are not among the four breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, although pit-bull terriers are forbidden.

But estate manager of the Barnsbury Estate, Francis Jones, revealed allegations that pit-bulls are still bred in the area.

He said: “People’s say that there’s a lot of illegal breeding going on. There are boys with all kinds of aggressive dogs around.”

Greenspace, the council body responsible for the park, refused to comment on the dogs, but Barnsbury Councillor James Murray said: “The park is managed very badly, to be honest. The budget for maintaining it is very small, and a lot of the time there isn’t anyone there from the council.”

He expressed hopes that the proposed renovation of the park and installation of permanent CCTV cameras will fix the problem.

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