‘I was mauled in a dog attack. Three years on, my life is in ruins’

A dad-of-one has told how his life is still “destroyed” three years after he was attacked by a dog. Adam Guy, 49, suffered serious injuries to his upper body and leg after he was attacked by his neighbor Taia Ryder’s mixed-breed pet.

He was forced to have skin graft surgery on his body and Ryder received a suspended prison sentence for the offence, which happened in May 2021. But three years after the attack, Adam is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and says his life has been “destroyed”.

The dad-of-one said: “I used to train in the gym and I used to box – but I’ve lost everything and it’s all gone, there is nothing else. This has destroyed me really.

“I’m still recovering now after three years. I think about it when I wake up in the morning, I think about it when I go to bed so I don’t get any rest.

“It’s constantly on my mind and now I’ve got PTSD. I’ve gone from living from a perfect life and having a home for my daughter to this.”

Adam says the dog attacked him outside the property in Warrington, Cheshire, but he then went into his flat where he just ‘bled out’.

He previously worked as a machine driver on a building site for 16 years but has been unable to work since the incident and is now living in a hostel. Adam said: “I bled out in my flat because the main arteries in my arm were cut.

“I’ve had surgeries on my legs and now I’ve got to have 22 tablets a day. I was working for 26 years and now I’ve got PTSD and have night terrors – you name it, I’ve got it. I’m now sat in my bedroom in a hostel for 23/24 hours a day. Before the attack, I was a machine driver on a building site.”

Adam said he warned his local housing company Torus about the dog and said he thought he would be attacked numerous times. But he says his complaints were ignored and if the company did their job, then the “attack would have never happened.”

Adam said: “It’s absolutely ruined my life – all my complaints were just getting ignored and ignored and ignored. Torus tried to compensate me £150 for what happened, but if they had done their job in the first place, then the attack would have never happened. But they’ve taken no responsibility for what’s happened.”

Torus has been contacted for comment.

In the wake of the incident, the court made a contingent destruction order for the dog involved in the incident – ​​a mixed-breed dog named Milo – on the grounds that on doing so, the dog ‘would not constitute a danger to public safety’ .

Statistics aired by the BBC in March 2024 show that dog attacks recorded by police in England and Wales have risen by 21 per cent in a year. Freedom of Information requests showed police forces recorded 30,539 offenses of a dog insulting a person or guide dog in 2023 – up from 25,291 in 2022.

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, people can be put in prison for up to 14 years, be disqualified from ownership or their dangerous dogs can be euthanized. The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment.

It has been widely suggested that people buying large numbers of dogs during the Covid-19 pandemic might be behind the rise. It is thought dogs missed out on socializing with other animals and people during lockdowns, while people returning to work and the cost-of-living crisis has meant people are less able to properly train, socialize and look after their animals.