A farmer has been jailed over a terrifying dog attack on a teenage girl on the same farm where a three-year-old boy was mauled to death by a different dog. 

Matthew Brown, 52, who owns and runs Carr Farm in Milnrow, Rochdale, was convicted of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control that caused injury in connection with the attack on the 17-year-old girl in April 2021.

She had been walking past the farm on Tunshill Lane when she was mauled by a Tibetan Mastiff, leaving her with a large and V-shaped wound to her arm.

A year later, in May 2022, Daniel Twigg, three, died after a Cane Corso launched a ‘furious and prolonged’ attack at the same farm. His parents were jailed in October over the tragedy.

Brown had pleaded not guilty to being in control of the Tibetan Mastiff, which has since been rehomed, but was convicted in February and sentenced to 15 months in prison on Thursday.

He was also disqualified from owning a dog for five years. 

In a victim statement considered by the court, the then-teenager said she has been left permanently scarred by the incident.

‘Before I was attacked by this dog, I used to enjoy going out and being active,’ she said.

‘I would regularly go on walks on public footpaths and enjoy being out in the surrounding area. I live in an area where the countryside is on my doorstep and I really enjoyed going out with friends and family to enjoy this.

‘However, since this incident, I do not like going out on my own. I also feel apprehensive about going out with friends and family. 

‘When I do have to leave the house, I feel that I am anxious and concerned. I am always worried that I may be attacked by a dog.’

She said she gave birth to a daughter in 2022, but felt the incident ‘has had a negative impact on me being a parent and also had an impact on her being able to enjoy the countryside’.

‘I should be able to enjoy the area in which I live and give my daughter the experiences I had as a child,’ she added in the statement. 

‘However, I feel like this incident has taken this away from me. I am always anxious about taking my daughter to the park and doing normal activities with her as a parent.

‘This has not only had an impact on me, but also an impact on my family.’

Previously Daniel’s parents, Joanne Bedford and Mark Twigg, were both found guilty of being a person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury, following the death of their son, Daniel.

Bedford was jailed for three years and six months and Twigg for two years and eight months. Both were disqualified from keeping dogs for 15 years. 

The couple, formerly of Blackley, were acquitted of manslaughter.

Police said after the case the dog was one of eleven kept on the property, which the family had moved into two months earlier.

Daniel was said to have entered a dog pen unsupervised, where Sid and another dog were housed in poor conditions. He suffered multiple head and neck injuries and sadly died the same day.