A DOG which bit a young child on the face so she needed eight stitches will not be put down after an expert said the animal was safe.

Buster the Staffordshire Bull Terrier will not be destroyed after the family employed an expert who argued the dog's character was 'impeccable' despite the dog biting the same child on two separate occasions last year.

The family learned that Buster had been saved at a hearing at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday on Friday.

Buster bit the child at a house in Malvern on July 19 last year, having already bitten her once before on February 14 last year.

District judge Nigel Cadbury ordered Buster to be castrated and subject to a contingent destruction order if he bites anyone else.

He must be muzzled in public at all times, must be kept on a 6ft lead (maximum) when out in public and must not be left under the control of anyone under the age of 18.

When he does go out Buster must have an adult with him and if he is out with another dog there must be another adult in control of the other dog (each dog must have someone with it). He must be placed in a collapsible crate when any child under 14 comes into the owner's house.

Buster's owner, Michael Nash of Pound Bank Road, Malvern who was given a suspended prison sentence had already admitted being in possession of a dog that was dangerously out of control after it bit the child.

She needed eight stitches under general anaesthetic at Worcestershire Royal Hospital following the bite at around 9.15pm last July. It was the second time Buster had bitten the same child which meant hospital staff alerted police.

Jackie Rogers, prosecuting, said the child suffered 'deep puncture wounds' to the face after the girl reached down to touch the dog.

The family employed a dog expert, David Stevens of Canine Solutions UK, to run a series of tests on Buster who also attended the court hearing and said on oath his tests were the most stringent in the UK.

In one of the tests a life-sized doll impregnated with milk is used to make sure the dog does not respond aggressively.

He told the judge: "I'm very hard and I take no prisoners. It's 100 per cent or nothing."

In an earlier police interview Nash, 67, said the dog had never bitten anyone else.

Paul Stanley, defending, said: "It (the report) suggests the dog is not a danger to public safety and is not inherently dangerous."

He also said the evidence supplied by the defence was 'unchallenged' as the prosecution had not produced its own report. He said there would be 'no permanent scarring to the child'.

Nash said after the hearing: "We're very pleased. Justice has been done."

Nash was subject to a 12 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay a contribution towards costs of £1,000, £76,20 in vets fees and an £80 victim surcharge. He opted to pay £50 a week.