Dog attack conviction 'won't bring our Daisy back'
BBCA woman whose family pet was savaged to death by an out-of-control dog has called for "stricter laws" to be imposed on owners.
Danielle Alexander's cockapoo Daisy died after it was attacked by an off-lead lurcher near her home in South Hetton, in County Durham, in April 2025.
John Wallace, 31, of Wingate, was convicted at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court of being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog, banned from keeping animals for two years and ordered to pay the victim £750.
The mother-of-two said the conviction would never bring Daisy back and said dogs who cannot be recalled should be kept on leads in case they "snap".
"Once they've got that taste for blood, then who's to say they're not going to go out and do it to another dog, do it to another child?" she said.
"The laws need to be harsher, they need to be stricter.
"Unless people want to go out and hire a public area specifically for certain dogs, I don't think it should be allowed."
Danielle AlexanderData from Northumbria Police showed the number of attacks by out-of-control dogs in the force's area almost doubled between 2018 and 2024.
Wallace pleaded not guilty to the charges on 30 June, but recently changed his plea to guilty.
Daisy's owner said his sentencing would "not change the outcome" of the dog attack and that her family would have to live with the trauma.
"To this day our son, who's just turned three, still asks where she is - he still cries wanting her to come home," she said.
"We still can't comprehend what's happened, the fact she was here one day and then taken away by the early hours of the afternoon just blows our mind."
