A DEVASTATED mother says she hears her daughter’s screams in her sleep after a dog attack left a teenage girl with serious facial injuries.

Vicky Nicholson, 40, fought desperately to fend off a dog after it latched on to her 17-year-old girl’s face at a home in Colchester.

The victim, Ellie Nicholson, had only been at the property for a matter of minutes before the incident happened.

The animal is described as a Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type dog.

Vicky, from Manningtree, said she came running from the kitchen into the front room after hearing her daughter’s screams.

“I can’t even say 'scream' as it wasn’t, it was just this awful noise,” she said.

“Then running in there to see this dog on her face, my reaction was to pull her to get her to get the dog off.

“We assumed the dog had been locked upstairs.”

Ellie suffered further bites to her arm, wrist and leg in the attack.

The ambulance service and police were called, with the dog seized by officers and Ellie taken to hospital for urgent treatment.

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Since the attack, on July 29, Ellie has been discharged from hospital after receiving stitches, although further surgery may be needed.

Vicky said: “The bottom of her lip has a horrible sensation and she can’t feel it properly.

“When she’s going to sleep she’s having visions of the dog.

“The hardest thing for me is I couldn’t stay at the hospital, I had to leave her there as because of her age she’s classed as an adult.

“I was leaving in the early hours of the morning, coming all the way back to Manningtree and I’d get home and just break down.

“I would be trying to get to sleep and be hearing her scream.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “We were called to a residential address in Colchester at around 1pm on July 29 following reports of a 17-year-old girl being bitten by a dog. 

“The girl was taken to hospital for treatment of serious facial injuries. 

“The dog has been seized to prevent further risk.” 

 

A 30-year-old man, from Colchester, and a 49-year-old woman, of no fixed address, were arrested on suspicion of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control causing injury.

They have since been released under investigation.