Dog owner cleared after pet bit postman in Bury

Published:
11:30 AM April 28, 2022

A Staffordshire bull terrier owner has been acquitted of a dangerous dog charge after a Suffolk postman lost the tip of his finger when putting mail through a letterbox.

Dog owner Jake Goddard, 36, was found not guilty of being in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control and caused injury by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday. 

The court previously heard how Adam Burrows, who was employed by Royal Mail, was delivering mail to the property in Kings Road in November 2017 when he was bitten by the bull terrier called ‘Frank’. 

“As Mr Burrows was posting letters through the letter box he felt teeth sink into the top of his finger,” Lewis Macdonald, prosecuting, told the court. 

“The tip of his finger was actually bitten off. He went to hospital but he lost the top 2.5cm of his finger as a result of the dog bite,” he added.

Mr Goddard, who was not at home at the time of the attack, said that Frank had never done anything like that before, although he had chewed up post in the past.

Mr Macdonald said Mr Goddard denied that Frank had been dangerously out of control and he thought the dog was going for the post and not the postman. 

Mr Goddard, 36, of Kings Road, Bury St Edmunds, who was represented by barrister Steven Dyble, denied the charge from November 4, 2017, which was brought by Royal Mail.

The jury of eight women and four men took five hours to reach a majority not guilty verdict. 

Recorder Douglas Edwards QC thanked jurors for their service and told Mr Goddard he could leave the dock.