PA
A mum of two has told how she fought off a bull mastiff dog with her bare hands after it attacked and killed her family dog and threatened her young children.
Karen Greaves was left with injuries to her hands after she grabbed the dog by its jaw to stop it attacking her son, Dylan, five and four-month-old baby daughter, Amelia.
The family had already watched in horror as the dog attacked and killed their puppy, Molly, after they went to their local park for a picnic. Then the dog turned and knocked little Amelia's buggy over.
'Out of nowhere, with no warning, this huge dog appeared and attacked Molly pretty much straight away, and it killed her in front of my little boy,' explains Karen.
'I did everything I could to try to wrestle it from Molly but it had a look in its eyes that said it wasn't going to stop for anything. Eventually it spat her out after ripping her apart. It seemed to then get a wild streak - perhaps it was the euphoria of killing her - and knocked Amelia's buggy to the ground.
'Both of my children were screaming and I thought the worst. I feared for them so I lay across the back of it and put my hands in its mouth. It basically then ate my hands and they looked like they had been through a shredder. I was covered in blood, it was pandemonium.'
Karen was bitten badly during the attack in south Manchester, and has since had surgery.
The owner of the dog has had it destroyed and has offered the family compensation, but Karen and her husband, Jonathan are now asking for all dogs to be banned from public parks to make sure all children are protected in the future.