Dog destroyed after savaging postwoman in Waterthorpe, Sheffield, police reveal

The 56-year-old postal worker was set upon while delivering mail on Hill Top Crescent in Waterthorpe in March and sustained injuries to both legs, both arms and her face.

A union leader revealed she was so badly injured that paramedics spent 45 minutes tending to her at the scene before taking her to Northern General Hospital, where she remained for around a week.

Dave Joyce, national health and safety officer for the Communication Workers’ Union, said the postwoman was still suffering physical and psychological trauma following the attack, she was receiving ongoing medical treatment and undergoing counselling, and she remained in a ‘very bad way’.

He also told how another postal worker in nearby Rotherham had lost a finger earlier this year in a separate dog attack, while on Friday night a woman was killed and a man seriously injured in a dog attack at a home in Rotherham.

Dog owner dealt with using restorative justice

South Yorkshire Police said the dog which attacked the worker in Waterthorpe had been destroyed and the matter had been dealt with using ‘restorative justice’ – a process which involves bringing offenders and their victims together in an attempt to heal the harm done.

Mr Joyce said he was ‘absolutely appalled’ that no charges had been brought, given non-fatal dog attacks on people can result in a jail term of up to five years under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

It was revealed earlier this month that Sheffield is the worst place in the UK for dog attacks on postal workers, with 51 incidents reported in the year to March 31, 2022.

Across the UK, a total of 1,673 attacks were recorded during that period, and Mr Joyce said that in the last five years, 1,000 postmen and women had lost a finger or part of a finger after being bitten by a dog.

In 2007, Sheffield postman Paul Coleman, from Richmond, nearly died after being mauled by two bulldog terriers.

Sheffield worst place in UK for dog attacks on postal workers, due to ‘irresponsible owners’

“Since we started keeping records, Sheffield has never been outside the top three places with the most attacks. It’s consistently one of the worst areas in the country,” said Mr Joyce.

“It must be that there’s a higher concentration of irresponsible dog owners in Sheffield because it’s not the animal that’s the problem, it’s the person at the other end of the lead.

“Any dog of any breed and any shape or size can be aggressive if it’s not properly looked after.”

Mr Joyce said that the vast majority of dog attacks on postal workers – around 82 per cent – happened on the doorstep, or on the path or driveway leading to the owner’s house.

He urged dog owners to put cages around their letterboxes if their pets attack the mail, because they could easily sever a postal worker’s finger. And he said everyone should make sure their dog is safely secured in another room before opening the door to delivery men and women.

Having previously campaigned successfully for tougher laws to combat irresponsible dog owners, he is now calling on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to further strengthen Britain’s dog control laws.

He said that the surge in people buying dogs during lockdown, many of whom had since abandoned or neglected their pets, meant the problem was only likely to get worse unless action was taken.