Woman whose German Shepherd savaged a postman’s arm before biting his buttocks leaving him needing surgery avoids jail – but the dog will be put down

A woman whose German Shepherd savaged a postman’s arm before biting his buttocks leaving him needing surgery has avoided jail – but her vicious dog will be put down. 

The Royal Mail employee was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and took five months off work due to his injuries following a bloodied attack by Adele Cassidy’s unmuzzled pet pooch, Ellie.

Cassidy, 57, of Paddock Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, was previously ordered to keep the out-of-control hound in a cage after a previous attack in 2020 when she charged at a social worker visiting her home and caused injuries to her back and arm.

The postie had been on his round delivering the dog owner’s letters in a postbox at the end of the drive when the barking hound wriggled underneath a wire mesh fence and launched herself at him. She sunk her teeth into his arm before attacking him again and biting his buttocks. 

Cassidy appeared at Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday where she admitted one count of being an owner in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury. 

Judge Bernadette Baxter told her she was ‘not a fit and proper person to look after a dog’ and sentenced her to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years. Her dog, Ellie, was made the subject of a destruction order.

The court heard the postman of 21 years was frozen with fear and screamed out in pain when he was mauled by the crazed hound on August 5 last year.   

Hayley Bennett, prosecuting, said: ‘The dog began nuzzling and pushing its way along the fence, and quickly managed to get under the wire mesh and jumped at him with its mouth open,’ Hayley Bennett, prosecuting, said.

‘He had no time to react, and described being frozen in fear. He raised his hands and arms in self defence, and the dog clamped its mouth around his arm and hand. It then bit his left arm before biting him from behind on the buttock.’

Cassidy and her son failed to restrain the German Shepherd before she pounced again and gnashed at his buttocks. 

The postman fell to grass feeling faint before he managed to get to his feet and scarper back to his van and drive back to his post office in Altrincham. 

His rushed to hospital in his bloodied shirt and shorts where he was treated for serious injuries to his hand, which has only regained 70 percent full strength a year on from the brutal attack. 

In a statement, he said: ‘In my job I have been nipped by a dog before and class it as an occupational hazard. However, never in my 21 years have I been subject to such a vicious attack.

‘What would have happened if it had done the same thing to a small child?’

Ms Bennett said he was unable to lift anything for a while and is undergoing counselling for PTSD.

Cassidy had a previous conviction for the same offence dating back to 2021,  involving the same dog, and was given a contingent destruction order. It detailed strict conditions including to keep the dog in a secure cage and to undergo animal training. 

She failed to do both, breaching the order, the court heard, with Cassidy saying she couldn’t afford to pay for the training.

Cassidy was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, and banned from keeping a dog for three years. Her dog, Ellie, was made the subject of a destruction order

Representing herself, Cassidy said she had bought a ‘high quality’ cage with a roof and lock mechanism but on the day of the attack she was in a rush and it hadn’t locked properly. 

Cassidy said that at the time she was under ‘a lot of pressures’, including financial difficulties, issues with her mental health and was working three jobs to make sure her house ‘did not get repossessed’.

Asked by the judge why she didn’t get rid of the dog when facing financial problems, she said she had ‘always had a dog’. ‘I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t go out – to have a dog helps with my stress levels and anxiety,’ she explained.

‘Why didn’t you get rid of the dog?’ Judge Baxter asked again.

‘She was the only thing holding me together,’ Cassidy said, before breaking down in tears. She added that she owns another German Shepherd, and admitted that it was a ‘horrendous situation’.

‘I’m just sorry, sorry for the whole incident. It was as much of a shock to me as it was to him,’ she concluded.

Sentencing, Judge Baxter said the dog had ‘savagely’ attacking the postman. 

‘Photographs show multiple unpleasant bites all over his body,’ she said. 

She added: ‘If you did not follow this [contingent destruction order] as a responsible and conscientious dog owner, you should have got rid of the dog.

‘This was not an unfortunate set of circumstances, it was as a result of your lack of care towards this order. You are not a fit and proper person to look after a dog.’

Cassidy was also ordered to complete 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and banned from keeping a dog for three years.