A man whose dogs mauled his friend to within an inch of his life has been jailed.

The Staffordshire bull terrier and bull mastiff cross of Geoff Clark attacked the man on Brighton beach.

Clark, 41, of Horton Road, Brighton, was walking along the beach with a friend on May 18 last year when the two dogs attacked the second man.

Witnesses told how the pair continued to maul the man after he had passed out in the sea.

With the dogs out of control, passers-by called the police and a dog unit and armed response team were on the scene in minutes.

But paramedics were unable to get to the injured man until the dogs were subdued. One officer received bite wounds to his leg and hand and was taken to hospital.

The dogs were later put down. The victim was in hospital in a critical condition for three weeks and is still receiving specialist treatment.

When Clark was arrested he was found to be carrying drugs and a knife. Jack Le-Flay, 20, from Henfield, witnessed the “barbaric” attack as he was returning from a night out.

He said at the time: “We could see these two dogs dragging something out of the water.

"At first we thought it might have been a police training exercise or an old tyre but then we could see a leg.

"The dogs would run back to their owner and then rush back and start attacking the man again.”

At Hove Crown Court Clark was jailed for 12 months for allowing his dogs to be dangerously out of control in a public place, having ketamine and a bladed weapon. He was also banned from owning a dog indefinitely.