A woman was left with fist-sized bite wounds to her legs after being savaged by a dog.

The woman, who has asked not be named, was pounced on by the dog as she walked by the lake in Gunners Park.

The dog, believed to be a golden labrador/lurcher cross ran up behind the woman before knocking her over and biting both legs. A man and woman with the dog tried to bring the dog under control before criticising the injured woman for walking in the park and making off.

The injured 66-year old woman from Shoebury managed to drag herself to her car before following the man to a house nearby before calling the police and an ambulance.

She said: “I want to warn others that this dangerous dog is being walked in a public place where children play.

“I often walk there. I’d left my car by the children’s playground and walked to the lake. I could see two people with two dogs but they seemed alright. The next thing I knew I heard a dog run up behind me. It jumped up at my back. Then it got hold of my coat and pulled me backwards and down. Im only 5ft so I stayed still. The owners were about 20yds away.

“The owner said he’d never done this before. They were struggling to get the dog under control.

“The dog bit into my left thight and circled round me before biting me again on my left thigh.”

The woman added: “I asked them for their details but they just told my I shouldn’t be walking there. I said it was near a playground where there are children but they just walked off.

“I managed to got to my car and followed them. They split up so I carried on following the man with the yellow dog to a house then I called the ambulance and the police.”

The woman was treated at the scene by paramedics and then recieved further treatement from her GP.

She said: “It’s very painful. I’m on antibiotics and pain killers. This could have happened to a child. It’s terrible they just let a dog like that off the lead.”

A police spokesman said: “We are investigating following an incident in Shoeburyness where a woman was bitten by a dog.

“The victim, a woman in her 60s, was walking along the sea wall when she came in contact with a man and a woman walking a dog.

“She was then bitten by the dog leaving her with two bite marks. She has been treated by paramedics and our enquiries are ongoing.

If” you have any information about the incident please call us on 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/8570/18.”