AN engineer killed his neighbour's dog by smashing it over the head with a baseball bat after it attacked a schoolgirl.

The 45-year-old father, who did not want to be named, said he killed the Staffordshire bull terrier last week in self defence.

He said he was protecting his sons who were trying to restrain the dog, called Justice, after it attacked a young girl outside his house in Pennington Road, High Wycombe.

The 12-year-old victim had been playing at her friend's house when the dog suddenly turned on her. The neighbours' eldest son was watching TV when he heard screams coming from the driveway.

"There was a girl on the floor being attacked by a dog. She was screaming her heart out. Blood was pouring out of her arm.

"It was taking big chunks out of her arm and had bitten right through to the bone," he said.

The 21-year-old builder sprang into action and with the help of his 17-year-old brother managed to restrain the dog.

He said: "My brother punched the dog in the head and I jumped on its back. We held its head down and pushed its jaw to the ground to close it.

"Mum dragged the girl into our house and there was a huge blood trail through the kitchen and along the hallway."

The brothers feared they were losing their grip on Justice and rang 999 for help.

The 21-year-old said: "The police didn't come for ages so my dad had to smash its skull with a baseball bat several times to kill it."

The owner, who also did not want to be named, was out at the time of the attack but became angry when he learned his neighbour had killed their family pet of ten years.

A street fight began outside their homes and the dog owner was cautioned for punching a policeman who was trying to break up the brawl.

One of the brothers said: "We rang the police several times. We didn't know if anyone was coming and we were losing our grip on the dog. It would have to have been put down anyway but the situation was bad enough as it was without seeing its brains being smashed out like that."

The neighbours said they had visited the girl at Stoke Mandeville Hospital where she had undergone multiple operations and a skin graft.

The owners denied Justice was dangerous and disputed the seriousness of the girl's injuries. They said their neighbours had overreacted and the girl had only suffered a few cuts.

Pierre du Bois, communications manager for Thames Valley Police, said a 12-year-old girl had been taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries and no offence had taken place under the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991.

According to the log, police took 14 minutes to arrive on the scene after being alerted to the incident.