Footage shows moment officer was attacked by dog leaving him with serious injuries

Shocking footage shows the moment a police officer was bitten by a dog inside a property in Ibstock, leaving him with serious injuries.

On the afternoon of Thursday 26 October in 2023, two local officers attended an address in Lewis Close wanting to speak to Aden Hollyoake, who lived at the address.

Hollyoake’s partner Shanell Lawrence answered the door and when officers explained they wanted to speak to her about Hollyoake, Lawrence allowed them into the address.

She told the officers she had dogs in the house, and they were in the kitchen, but they were fine to come inside.

Less than a minute inside, as one of the officers stood talking to Lawrence in the doorway from the hall into the lounge, one of the dogs inside the property suddenly pushed open the closed kitchen door before rushing through the lounge and up to the officer attacking him.

The footage, taken from the officer’s body worn camera, shows him shouting in pain struggling to release the dog which had clamped his jaws onto his upper inner leg.

His colleague, who had been stood behind, discharged his cannister of Captor, an incapacitant spray, in an attempt to get the dog to stop but this was unsuccessful.

The dog, an XL bully, finally let go after almost a minute of biting and Lawrence moved him into the back garden as the two officers managed to escape through the front door.

Nearby colleagues rushed to the scene to provide immediate first aid to the injured officer.

He was later taken to hospital where he had an operation to repair and stitch four bite wounds to his leg. His colleague sustained a small laceration to his finger.

The XL bully was removed from the property alongside another dog which was in a crate in the kitchen at the time of the incident.  Tests later confirmed this dog to be a pit bull terrier which is a banned breed within the UK. Both dogs currently remain in secure kennels.

Lawrence and Hollyoake, who was not home at the time of the incident and owns both the dogs, were later arrested and interviewed about the incident.

Lawrence suggested in interview that the dog had only attacked the officer as they were strangers in the house and denied the dog had acted dangerously.

In his interview, Hollyoake also denied the XL bully dog was dangerous and that he did not know that the pit bull was such a breed. He said he believed it was an XL bully. He had had the XL bully legally registered and microchipped but not the pit bull which he had owned for over a year.

Following a thorough investigation, charges were authorised for the following offences:

• Lawrence, 26, of Lewis Close, was charged with being in charge of a dog, namely a male of the XL Bully type, which was dangerously out of control and being in possession or custody a dog to which section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 applied, namely a female dog of the pit bull type.
• Hollyoake, 33, of no fixed abode, was charged with possession or custody a dog to which section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 applied, namely a female dog of the pit-bull type.

Both pleaded guilty in September 2024 to all charges at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.

In November 2024, Lawrence was sentenced and given a 12-month community order.

Hollyoake was sentenced last week on Friday (31 January) at Leicester Crown Court to a total of two years and three months in prison.

Hollyoake’s sentence included separate convictions for offences of driving whilst disqualified, dangerous driving, driving without insurance and possession of a controlled drug which he previously pleaded guilty to.

Detective Constable James Highton, who was the investigating officer, said: “The footage is extremely shocking and distressing, but we have chosen to release part of it, with the permission of the officers involved, to show what can happen when dogs are not kept under the right control and the risk and harm which can be potentially caused. There was speculation online at the time of the incident that the officers had acted unlawfully and forced their way into the address, which lead to comments from the public that it was ‘no surprise that they were attacked’. This footage clearly shows that was not the case.

“While Lawrence told the officers she had dogs in the house and they were away in the kitchen, she also clearly said ‘you’re fine to come in’ so they entered the address on the understanding it was safe.

“She admitted in her interview that the XL bully dog had previously to managed to open the kitchen door and gain access to the lounge, so she had not secured the dog as she later claimed, especially when you consider that the dog has a crate in the kitchen that she could have put him in. 

“The simple fact is that she didn’t secure the dog properly and when he got into the lounge, she was not able to control him and prevent him attacking the officer in what is clearly horrendous and terrifying attack.”

He added: “Officers have a right that every day they come to work and carry out their duties safely and to not be faced with such an attack.  You can hear the shock and panic in his voice in his video and the absolute determination by his colleague to help free him.

“He had to take a month off work to physically recover and has been left weary of dogs especially larger dogs and when entering homes as part of his work. Not only has the incident had a lasting effect on him but also his colleague who was with him and managed to avoid any serious injury.”

DC Highton also said: “This could easily have been avoided if Lawrence had secured the dog properly or even suggested to speak to officers outside the address. Her failure to do so left this officer with a significant injury which could have not been much worse, as we have seen with a number of recent dog attacks on people across the country.”