Hero father of three's testicles were savaged by Staffordshire bull terrier as he protected his toddler son and teenage daughter from attack in park

 

• Gordon Gotham was dragged to the ground by a Staffordshire bull terrier


• The vicious dog injured his testicles as he protected his two children 


• Father-of-three said his toddler Thomas, two, has since had nightmares


• Police searched for the dog and the owners in the park, but to no avail 

A father-of-three had his testicles savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier as he protected his toddler son and daughter from the vicious dog.

Gordon Gotham, from Liverpool, required hospital treatment after he was dragged to the ground by the terrier in Walton Hall Park last Tuesday.

The 47-year-old, who also suffered wounds to his legs and side, said his children Thomas, two, and Maisie, 14, had been left traumatised by the attack.

Thomas has had nightmares following the ordeal and has 'woken up screaming about a big bad dog'.

A father-of-three had his testicles savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier as he protected his toddler son and daughter from the vicious dog.

Gordon Gotham, from Liverpool, required hospital treatment after he was dragged to the ground by the terrier in Walton Hall Park last Tuesday.

The 47-year-old, who also suffered wounds to his legs and side, said his children Thomas, two, and Maisie, 14, had been left traumatised by the attack.

Thomas has had nightmares following the ordeal and has 'woken up screaming about a big bad dog'.

Recalling the savage incident, Mr Gotham said: 'My son was on his bike and they went across the fields doing races.

'The dog came out of the bushes and started running towards the kids.

'It was jumping up at my son and my daughter picked him up so it couldn't get to him.

As you can imagine, I was running over shouting "get your f****** dog" to the owner.

'I picked them both up so I had one in either arm and then it started biting me on my side.

'It bit my privates but there was nothing I could do without putting the children down so I just had to let it bite me.

'If it had got hold of my little boy it would have treated him like a rag doll.

'It dragged me to the floor but I still had my kids in my arms, it was like a for-for-all on the ground.

'I couldn't see what was happening but my daughter must have been able to and all I could hear was her screaming "dad, dad"'

Following the attack Mr Gotham rang the police but refused an ambulance and travelled to A&E on his own.

He was given a tetanus jab and a dose of anti-inflammatories but had to return to the doctors the next morning when the wounds began weeping.

The TV show floor manager, who also has a three-month-old daughter called Grace, said he takes his children to the park several times a week with partner Angela.

Police searched for the dog and the owners in the park but were unable to track them down.

 Mr Gotham said his son, Thomas, had suffered nightmares after the attack

He has slammed the dog's owners for their lack of remorse following the attack and said they did not even apologise.

He recalled: 'The owners were just walking over like nothing was happening.

'They hit the dog on the nose and said "this has never happened before" and walked off.

'I think I've got over the shock now, it's more anger they didn't apologise or even ask how we were.

'The other night my son woke up screaming about a big bad dog.

'Since the attack he won't leave his mum's side.

'We are looking into talking to the doctor to maybe get some sort of counselling because we don't want him to be afraid of all dogs from now on.

'We've got a family member who has a dog so I'm thinking of taking the children to see it, we want them to know that not all dogs are like that.

'It's the dog I feel sorry for to be honest because if they do catch them it will be the dog that gets punished not the owners who showed no sympathy.

'If it had been Angela with our three-month-old they wouldn't have stood a chance.'

A recent study revealed injuries caused by dog attacks are more common in Merseyside than anywhere else in the country with 322 victims seeking medical treatment across 2014 and 2015.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: 'It is a criminal offence to allow a dog to be dangerously out of control so we would appeal for anyone who can help us trace the owner to contact us with that information.

'Police patrols did search the park for the dog and owner and neighbourhood officers will be keeping an eye out for it so that the owners can be spoken to about this incident.

'Anyone walking their dog in our local parks needs to be mindful of their dog's behaviour at all times and keep their pet on a lead if it is liable to be aggressive towards other park users.

'We will not tolerate irresponsible dog ownership here in Merseyside.'