Two Staffordshire bull terriers which attacked a pensioner on a West Sussex public footpath have been spared.

Kay Swain, 42, a mother of four, of Guildford Road, Rustington, near Littlehampton, was told she could keep her pets after hearing the victim did not want the dogs put down.

Worthing magistrates heard yesterday that Marcia Millner was walking down an alleyway at the back the defendant's home when the attack happened on March 15 this year.

She heard the dogs barking and then saw them push through a wire fence in the back garden and lunge at her.

Lorna Lee, prosecuting, said: "They came either side of her and started attacking her and biting her repeatedly."

The court heard Mrs Millner suffered a 4in cut to her right arm and had to wear her arm in a sling. She also suffered puncture wounds to her legs and a finger.

Wendy Holmes, defending, said Swain had encountered no previous problems with the dogs.

There had been no repetition of the incident and her client had sought advice from police on how to keep the dogs.

Miss Holmes said: "My client fully accepts it must have been very upsetting for the woman.

"Since the incident she has secured her back garden with double fencing and has also put signs at the back and front of the house saying 'Beware of Staffordshire bull terriers'.

"She also ensures that whenever she takes the dogs out they are muzzled."

Miss Holmes told magistrates: "The family never considered the dogs could a risk to the public and the aggrieved has made a statement to police saying she doesn't want the dogs destroyed."

Swain was ordered to pay Mrs Millner £310 compensation and the cost of damage to her clothes.

Swain pleaded guilty to two charges of keeping a dog which was dangerously out of control in a public place causing injury.