A pair of out-of-control dogs in Hitchin rushed into a neighbour’s house to attack another, then killed a Yorkshire terrier in the street.

Stevenage magistrates heard today that the terrier had been ripped from a man’s arms and swung round ‘like a rag doll’, with the owner also suffering hand injuries.

Prosecutor Rafia Khatun told the court: “These dogs have run into someone else’s home address. When kicked out, they have then attacked another dog and the man with him, causing himself injuries and causing the other dog to die.

“The entire incident lasted about three hours, and left a number of members of the public concerned that it may happen again.”

The defendant – a teenage girl who cannot be identified for legal reasons – at an earlier hearing pleaded guilty to two counts of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, and two counts of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury.

Ms Khatun told the court that a woman had been walking her dog at about 6pm on October 22 last year when she saw three dogs jumping at a house window.

Two of them – both bull breeds – got out of the house, rushed out and set upon her dog.

Ms Khatun said: “They were pinning the dog to the ground. She dropped her dog’s lead to give her a chance to escape.”

When the terrified woman fled back into her house with her dog, the pair followed and chased the animal up the stairs – where they were confronted by the woman’s mother.

She kicked one of the dogs, which ran out of the house. The other one bit the smaller dog and had to be pulled off by its hind legs, after which it also fled.

In the street outside, the dogs turned their attention to a seven-year-old Yorkshire terrier that a man was walking.

The man picked up his dog and held it at shoulder height to try to shield it from harm as the bull breeds jumped up to try to bite it.

In the process he was bitten on his hands, and he hit one of the dogs on the head.

One of the pair eventually jumped high enough to bite the terrier, after which its owner fell backwards onto his elbow and hip.

The prosecutor said: “The Yorkshire terrier was ripped from his arms, and the dog held it in its jaws, swinging it around like a rag doll.”

She added that the man and his son had eventually restrained the dog by pinning it to the floor until police arrived 20 minutes later.

The Yorkshire terrier died following the episode, which lasted about three hours in all. The police dog unit seized both animals.

Chairman of the bench Stephen Cane placed the defendant under a four-month referral order, and ordered her to pay a total of £487.88 in compensation to the two victims. He also ordered the two dogs to be destroyed.