A horrified mother has been left scarred after she was the victim of a dramatic dog attack on her own doorstep, in which a staffie's jaws were sunk into her arm for 10 minutes.

Toni Knight, 26, of Stannet Way, Wallington, went to rescue her 20-year-old deaf cat, Daisy, who was being attacked by a neighbour’s Staffordshire bull terrier-type dog outside her front door last Wednesday afternoon.

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Miss Knight's injured arm 

However, when Miss Knight went to pick up Daisy the dog went for her instead and clamped its jaws over her arm so tight that a neighbour had to stick a broom in its mouth to get it off.

Miss Knight, who works in Asda in Sutton, said: "I picked the cat up and it just came for me. It just locked on my arm.

"I was screaming the whole street down and there was blood everywhere.

"My brother came down and was sitting on its head and hitting it but the dog wouldn’t get off for about 10 minutes.

"A woman over the road stuck a broom in its mouth and got it off. The pain I was in - I thought [my arm] was going to be hanging off.

"I have a two-year-old daughter but luckily she wasn’t here - if that had happened [to her] she could have died.

"I’m OK now I just keep thinking about what could have happened."

Miss Knight had to have stitches in her arm as well as a tetanus injection and has been taking antibiotics.

It is understood that the dog has now been taken away from its owner.

A police spokesperson said: "Police are investigating an incident involving two women being attacked by a dog in Stannet Way, Wallington, on Wednesday 10th July at 16.20hrs.

"The women, aged 26 and 56, received treatment in hospital for puncture marks, cuts and scratches to their arms. The dog owner has been identified. Enquiries are continuing."

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Miss Knight and her daugher Daisy Johns