The owner of a dog which bit a Suffolk man on the arm has failed to persuade a judge that his pet shouldn’t be destroyed.

Ordering the destruction of the seven-year-old mixed breed dog called Diablo, Judge Martyn Levett said he was satisfied it constituted a danger to the public.

He said the order wasn’t to be carried out for 28 days in case Diablo’s owner, Jamie Dale, wanted to appeal the decision.

Dale, a serving prisoner, told Ipswich Crown Court that Diablo was generally obedient and well behaved and did not pose a danger to members of the public.

Earlier this year a man who was looking after Diablo in Haverhill was jailed for threatening a man who was bitten by the dog after failing to bribe him into dropping the charges.

Ollie Deeks was jailed for 12 months in March for being in charge of a dangerously out-of-control dog, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and witness intimidation.

Michael Harrison required 32 stitches when his arm was bitten to the bone by Diablo in April last year.

It left him unable to grip as he did before the attack, which took place as he passed the dog on the landing of his shared Haverhill home, where Deeks was invited by another resident to sleep while without fixed accommodation.

Deeks, 25, of Fornham Road, Bury St Edmunds, had denied offering Mr Harrison money in a text message before threatening to “cut him up” for pressing charges.

The court heard that police had advised Deeks to muzzle the dog – since described as “very aggressive” while in the custody of kennel staff – after it previously bit Mr Harrison.

Giving evidence Dale, who has a six-month-old daughter, said Diablo would live with his father and he would go to his father’s house at weekends to look after him while his father was at work.

He said he would stop Diablo being a danger to members of the public by muzzling him in and out of the house and he would also keep him on a lead.