Bedfords Park attack: Romford pensioner and his dog mauled

Richard Orr has pleaded with the owner of the rottweilers to "get a muzzle on them" after he was left with a gash on his hand that "bled all over the place" - and his dog Wilson had part of his "neck ripped out".

The 74-year-old was out walking Wilson - who is a small dachshund and cocker spaniel cross - around Bedfords Park, Havering-atte-Bower, on September 20. 

It was while they were in the bluebell forest that two rottweilers ran up to them, Richard said.

Wilson had to get stitches in his neck (Image: Richard Orr)

Richard told the Recorder: "I knew immediately they [the rottweilers] weren't friendly.

"One grabbed him [Wilson] on the side and one grabbed him on the neck.

"Obviously I jumped over my dog trying to protect him - I thought 'well they can bite me instead'."

Richard said that he then got his hand bitten, and it was when he pulled his hand away that "the big dog got [Wilson's] neck and started ripping his neck out".

The Romford pensioner said his hand was "punctured" by one of the rottweiler's teeth and was "bleeding all over the place".

Meanwhile, Wilson had a "great big rip on his neck", which he later had to get stitches for at the vets.

There were two men with the rottweilers, according to Richard, and although one of them eventually got the dogs off Wilson, Richard said that they seemed "unconcerned".

Richard was bitten while trying to protect his dog (Image: Richard Orr)

He said: "I was on the floor, and the two of them just walked away and stood and looked at me.

"No sorry, nothing.

"Remember I'm 74 - they never helped me up, they just stood back and looked at me."

Richard rushed his dog to the vets after the attack, where he has had to return multiple times while Wilson's neck heals.

For a couple of days after the incident, Wilson was "laying down doing nothing" but he is now "recovering well", Richard told the Recorder.

He added that the bite on his hand is "nearly healed up now".

Wilson is 'recovering well' (Image: Richard Orr)

Richard said: "It was traumatic.

"They [the rottweilers] need to be muzzled. That's all I want.

"I don't want them put down, they just need to be muzzled."

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that a 74-year-old man was attacked by two dogs - "believed to be rottweilers" - in Bedfords Park, Broxhill Road on September 20.

They said that the dogs allegedly "lunged" towards the man's dog and "attacked it", and that the man was "bitten by both dogs" while he tried to protect his dog.

Police have confirmed that the incident remains a live investigation.

Two dogs were seized by the Met's Dog Support Unit after a separate dog attack on September 30 in Lower Bedfords Road, however police have not yet confirmed whether the two incidents are linked.