Judge orders dog 'used as weapon' to be killed

A pit bull terrier is to be put down after an Old Bailey judge ruled that it had been used as a weapon during a fatal attack on a nightclub doorman.

Judge Giles Forrester accepted a prosecution submission that Colonel, which made legal history when it underwent a DNA test during the murder investigation, should be treated like a knife or a gun and surrendered. The dog is likely to be destroyed by police.

During the attack at the Paradise Club, New Cross, south-east London, the dog's ear was cut. Police traced the blood to the home of Colonel's owner.

Officers sent a sample of the dog's blood to New York for DNA testing where it was revealed the chances of it coming from a dog other than Colonel were one in a million.

The doorman, George Napier, 36, was attacked after Spencer Sheppard was refused entry to the club in November last year. Sheppard, 31, returned with his dog, his brother Louis, Daniel Clark and Duane Daniels, who stabbed Mr Napier, the court heard.

Daniels, 27, faces a mandatory life sentence after his conviction for murder. The Sheppard brothers and Clark, 24, have admitted conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and will be sentenced later.

Sheppard owned two aggressive pit bulls – the other was named Gadaffi.