Police dog attack: Phoebe Malone, 6, bitten in chase for suspected car thief

The child was "traumatised" by the attack

A six-year-old girl has been hospitalised after a police dog bit her repeatedly.

Phoebe Malone was playing outside her home in Newton Heath at around 8pm on Tuesday, when Greater Manchester Police sent a dog after a suspected car thief who had ploughed a Fiat Punto into a nearby wall.

But instead of chasing the suspect as he or she fled the scene, the dog attacked the young child.

The girl remained in hospital overnight for observation, but was not seriously injured, according to police.

The girl’s mother, Sarah Malone, 34, has called on the police to review their dog training procedures, after her daughter was left “traumatised.”

Of the ten wounds that the dog inflicted, two were “very deep” and narrowly missed the child’s arteries, Ms Malone said.

Her young son was a witness to the incident, and shouted to her for help, she told The Telegraph.

Phoebe is “still in shock” after the attack, she told BBC North West Today.

“It's not bothered chasing the criminal [...] it has seen Phoebe, jumped up and knocked her to the ground,” she said.

GMP has followed protocol by launching an investigation into the attack.

Recent figures show that more than 150 innocent people have been victims of accidental dog attacks between 2011 and 2013, meaning forces having paid out more than £120,000 in compensation.

Additional reporting by PA