Worcester gran: Armed police took my dog and won't give him back

Carole Roberts says police came to her home in Guildford Close, Ronkswood, Worcester and seized her Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Dylan, under the Dangerous Dog Act even though she says he would not hurt a fly.

The 72-year-old, who has had Dylan since he was a pup, says 12 police officers came to her door searching for a Staffordshire Bull Terrier that had bitten another dog.

She remains adamant police must have made a mistake as her gentle Dylan has never bitten anyone and was even wagging his tail when police arrived in two vans last Friday afternoon to take him away.

However, police said Dylan was taken as part of an investigation into an attack on another dog that left the animal so badly injured they had to be put down.

Mrs Roberts, a great grandmother,who has recently lost her sister and her brother, was so upset she screamed and tore up the warrant in front of officers. “I ripped it up in the hallway,” she said.

The mother-of-two showed the Worcester News what she said were bruises on her wrist which she says were sustained when officers pried her hands off a child gate as she tried to stop them taking Dylan away.

Recounting her ordeal, she said she cried and begged them: “Please, please, please don’t take my dogs!”

Mrs Roberts, who shook violently throughout the Worcester News interview and fought back tears, rings the kennels every day to see how Dylan is. But says she police have refused to tell her where he is or when she can have him back.

She insists police have told her very little other than that Dylan is not eating. “He’s never been away from home before,” she said.

The pensioner says all she has been able to find out from police is that a dog had attacked another, smaller dog in August. But she insists it is nothing whatsoever to do with her Dylan. So far she has not been told where the attack happened or what injuries the other dog sustained, shje says.

They said they wanted to speak to her husband not her, as apparently it was a man walking the dog at the time. However, Mrs Roberts insists it could not have been her husband as he has not been well enough to walk the dog for two years.

Mrs Roberts, who is ‘sick with worry’ and cannot sleep, says her other dog, Alfie, a French bulldog, is also pining away for Dylan and keeps looking around to see where he is.

The dogs have been her comfort and her rock during a series of family tragedies - her sister Linda Jackson died this week while her brother Peter Wood died in August.

Her other brother, Christopher Wood, committed suicide five years ago which she has struggled to come to terms with, she said.

“I feel really depressed. I feel suicidal. The dogs are my life,” she said as she chocked back tears. “I know you will think I’m daft but I would sooner they took me away than my dogs.”

Meanwhile, her frail husband John, 79, is on dialysis and attends the unit on Tolladine Road three days a week. She believes this has added to his stress, fearing her husband of 54 years will have another heart attack.

They have lived at their house in Ronkswood for 32 years and she can’t remember anything ever happening there that has upset her so much.

Initially, when she saw the police vans, she thought they must be poised to raid another property, telling the gas man she did not want to be involved. Her husband was not at home when police came around as he was having dialysis.

Mrs Roberts said the gas man offered to tell officers she was ‘busy’ but when he told them this and he would ‘just shut the door’, an officer said: “No you won’t.”

When they told her they were going to take her Staffordshire Bull Terrier she became very upset.

“I was shouting and screaming. I was saying ‘you’re joking me!’ I was hysterical. There were two lady police officers with riot shields. One of the officers had a Taser. They prised my hands off the child gate. They said ‘let go, let go, let go!’

“I said ‘no, don’t take him!’ I said ‘please let my wrists go!’ They said ‘if you come in the front room and calm down and talk about it we won’t take him’. They promised me they wouldn’t take him if I calmed down,” she said.

The family has had eight-year-old Dylan, who has been castrated, since he was seven weeks old.

Mrs Roberts says he is a caring and peaceful dog. She says she always keeps him on a lead when he’s on a walk.

“My dog has never bitten anyone,” she said.

She also pointed out that Dylan did not match the description provided by police on the search warrant, issued by Dudley Magistrates Court under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

The torn-up piece of paper, since taped together, describes the dog they are looking for as black with a large, muscular body. She said her Dylan was small and brown with a patch of white on his coat.

Inspector Andrew Holliday told the Worcester News “In August we launched an investigation after a distraught dog owner contacted us after their beloved pet sadly had to be put down having been attacked by another dog.

“Matters around potentially dangerous dogs are taken seriously and it is only right that we carry out every potential line of enquiry. We attended an address as part of this investigation and this did result in the seizure of an animal to support the investigation.

“This weekend we have spoken to the family whose dog was seized with the aim of finding a way forward for them and to enable our investigation into the death of the other dog to continue unimpeded.”

He added: “When responding to an incident involving a suspected or potential dangerous dog we attend with dog protection shields as a precaution until we are satisfied there is no immediate risk to the public and the officers attending. It is also standard practice for specially trained dog handlers to attend, alongside investigating officers.”