Colchester dog attack teen recovers at home after incident

Ellie Nicholson, 17, received stitches to her upper lip after she was attacked by a dog at a home in Colchester on July 29.

Her mum, Vicky, said: "She has to keep going back to have it cleaned up and is still on strong antibiotics.

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"Only time will tell [whether she needs further hospital treatment], we've just got to keep fingers crossed as to what happens with it.

"She's at home to recover, as it's the best place as she only feels safe there and her anxiety is through the roof."

• READ MORE: 'I still hear her scream' - teenage girl suffers serious injuries in dog attack

Vicky fought desperately to fend off a dog after it latched on to her daughter's face.

The victim had only been at the property for a matter of minutes before the incident happened.

The injuries to Ellie's face

The animal is described as a Staffordshire Bull Terrier-type dog.

Vicky, from Manningtree, said she came running from the kitchen into the front room after hearing her daughter’s screams.

“I can’t even say 'scream' as it wasn’t, it was just this awful noise,” she said.

“Then running in there to see this dog on her face, my reaction was to pull her to get her to get the dog off.

“We assumed the dog had been locked upstairs.”

Injured - Ellie is facing a long road to recovery after the dog attack

Ellie suffered further bites to her arm, wrist and leg in the attack.

The ambulance service and police were called, with the dog seized by officers and Ellie taken to hospital for urgent treatment.

An Essex Police spokesman said: “We were called to a residential address in Colchester at around 1pm on July 29 following reports of a 17-year-old girl being bitten by a dog.

“The girl was taken to hospital for treatment of serious facial injuries.

“The dog has been seized to prevent further risk.”

A 30-year-old man, from Colchester, and a 49-year-old woman, of no fixed address, were arrested on suspicion of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control causing injury.

They have since been released under investigation.