Aberdeen solicitor Chris Gordon has called for a ‘one strike and you’re out’ law to ensure that dogs which attack people are automatically put down.

Mr Gordon a partner with Thompsons Solicitors who specialise in personal injury cases said: “I fully understand how attached people become to their pets, but I think even the most-loved dog crosses a line when it attacks a human being.”

He was speaking in the wake of a case at Stonehaven Sheriff Court where the owner of a Doberman which attacked a schoolgirl was ordered to keep it muzzled in public after admitting failing to keep it under proper control.

The dog mauled Nikki Crobett 10, sinking its teeth into her chest and chasing her into the garden and biting her arm, when she called at the owners house to visit a friend.

Mr Gordon said: “I have a number of clients who have suffered similar attacks.

“These incidents are always traumatic and generally leave the victim with serious injuries and in some cases permanently disfigured.

“We need a ‘one strike and you’re out law’ to ensure that such vicious dogs are automatically put down.

“Owners tend to become so attached to their dogs that their instinct is to regard such incidents as out of character, which is why we need the law to be more specific in this area.”

Nikki’s father Craig Corbett said he and his family were petrified that the dog which attacked his daughter could attack another child.

He said of the court’s verdict: “We feel totally let down. I expected the dog to be put down.

“We are petrified it could happen especially for the children in the street.”