Police dog which injured handler ‘had previously attacked another woman’ | UK News

A police dog which was shot dead after it turned on its handler had attacked another person before, it’s been claimed.

PD Jax was sent out to help search for a missing person in Walton-le-Dale, Lancashire, last week (August 3).

However the dog turned on his handler, named in reports as PC Sarah Sapey, and attacked her, leaving her with an upper leg wound.

Armed police then shot PD Jax, killing him, to try and reduce the risk to the public and other officers.

But a solicitor now says his client received very similar injuries from the same dog when he attacked her at the scene of a car crash in 2019.

Solicitor James McNally said PD Jax didn’t obey orders when let off the lead, and ‘attacked’ his female client ‘without warning’.

She was left with ‘permanent scars’ and ‘psychological injuries’ after being hospitalised for five nights and requiring two operations.

Mr McNally said he’d made attempts to settle the case on behalf of his client, but Lancashire Police refused until just hours after PD Jax was killed.

He said: ‘On the day Jax was shot, my client made me aware of the news and I emailed the police asking for confirmation this was the same dog and asking for disclosure relating to the incident.

‘That was at 2pm. At 8pm the police emailed accepting the offer to settle we’d made weeks ago. My client was bitten in October 2019.

‘Just hours after PD Jax, was killed the police settled her claim.

‘It was the outcome my client deserved but not in the way we would have wanted.’

Mr McNally, who did not name his client, says she was attacked by PD Jax after the car she was in hit a pylon.

She’d been with her boyfriend and after the crash they walked across a field to a friend’s house to try and get help.

But when police arrived, she claimed police let PD Jax off the lead and he failed to respond to commands before attacking her.

Mr McNally added: ‘My client always maintained that PD Jax attacked her without warning, when she was completely still and that PD Jax refused to obey commands to release.

‘She always said neither she or her boyfriend knew it was a police dog that was attacking her until after the event. My client was never charged with any crime.

‘The police did, however, try and unsuccessfully prosecute her boyfriend with “causing unnecessary suffering to an animal” for his attempts to try and get PD Jax to let go of my client.

‘Her boyfriend was acquitted. The police denied any responsibility. In their view, PD Jax was properly trained, posed no risk to anyone and was properly deployed.

‘They claimed my client added to the problem because she was covering Jax’s nose with her hand in an attempt to push him off whilst screaming and writhing around on the floor.’

Mr McNally said that his client had instructed him to press ahead with court proceedings, and these had been issued against the police in February this year.

Alongside this, they had also made an offer to settle their claim outside of a trial.

But this had been denied by police until the day of PD Jax’s death on August 3.

He said: ‘All police dogs have a bite history which records all previous bites. As part of our investigations, I have seen PD Jax’s bite history.

‘I have seen his training records. I have discussed them in detail with a former police dog trainer and expert witness.

‘We had enough concerns regarding issues with his training and previous incidences that court proceedings against the police were issued and served in February.

‘I suspect there’s an awful lot of bad behaviour you can excuse when you’ve spent hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds on creating your police dog.

‘But the injuries caused by police dogs are horrific. Alsatians, German Shepherds, Malinois are all big powerful dogs with big powerful jaws.

‘There seems to be a view that the end justifies the means. That if you chose to run (or in the case of my client, sit absolutely still) you deserve everything you get.

‘But when I’m looking at a photo of a woman with her calf muscle missing, I do wonder.

‘Police dog handlers will talk of their bond with the dog but when a police dog is seen as a pet, as a loved one, as a member of the family rather than as a policing tool – for me it becomes a problem.

‘Like all dog owners you will always seek to excuse behavior, ignore warning signs, forgive and look the other way.

‘The problem is compounded when you consider the time, effort and money that has been spent on training these dogs.’

Lancashire Police has been approached for comment.

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