A woman is recovering after she was savaged by a dog during an attempted street robbery.

The unidentified victim was attacked on the short walk from Waitrose supermarket in Western Road, Brighton, to her home in nearby Montpelier Road.

Police say a man tried to grab her handbag and, in the struggle, she and another man were attacked by the Rottweiler-like dog.

They do not know whether the animal's owner ordered it to attack.

The woman's employer, Alan Wilkinson, who owns two antique stores and Brighton Flea Market in Kemp Town, was stunned by the attack.

Three years ago, another member of his staff, John Hart-Gould, was killed by a beggar in Brighton.

Mr Wilkinson was so angered by the latest attack he immediately wrote to the Prime Minister and local MPs.

He said: "I only employ a few people and two have been attacked by strangers on the street. The latest victim is only a slight figure. It is so horrific.

"She has some nasty cuts and bruising but fortunately nothing more permanent. The result of such an attack could have been far worse.

"She is so upset and it made me so angry that I wrote the letters."

The woman is recovering with family in London.

Mr Hart-Gould died in October 1999. David Gibson was jailed for two-and-a-half years for punching and killing him after he refused to hand over money.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said Saturday's attack was being treated as an attempted street robbery.

He said: "We were called just before 6.30pm when somebody heard some shouting on the street.

"It seems the man with the dog dropped her bag and ran off but in the meantime the dog bit the woman and another man."