A fighting dog which mauled a Jack Russell to death could be destroyed after its owner admitted his guilt in court yesterday.

It happened in the same street where the dog owner's mother kept a Staffordshire bull terrier which bit two postmen, prompting the Post Office to cancel deliveries to their Carshalton street.

Daniel Brenton Campbell pleaded guilty to possession of a fighting dog at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Monday, May 13, following a harrowing attack which left the victim physically and mentally scarred.

Elaine Hinkley was walking her dog Jake to her parent's house on Chestnut Close, Carshalton, in July last year when she noticed Campbell's front door open and his large pitbull Buster roaming the street.

The court heard how the animal jumped up and bit the woman, before ripping the smaller dog from her arms and mauling it in front of her eyes as she screamed for help.

Your Local Guardian: Jake

"Savagely attacked": Jake the Jack Russell did not survive

Three men walked out of Campbell's house on hearing the screams, but said nothing to her as they ushered Buster away as she tended to her bleeding pet.

In a victim impact statement, read out in court, Ms Hinkley said: "I've been left devastated and traumatised and have been having terrible flashbacks.

"My little Jake was savagely attacked and destroyed and now I have to relive the nightmare every time I go to my parents house."

Campbell's house was raided as part of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Hawk in March, where police found £2,500 in cash and a quantity of cannabis.

However the seized cash was later returned.

In April Layne Campbell, of the same address, pleaded guilty to cannabis possession.

The court heard how Daniel Campbell's record showed he was not of previous good character but no further details were disclosed.

In 2002 the Post Office suspended deliveries to the street after two postman were attacked by Campbell's mother's dog, forcing her to make a public apology.

Yvette Campbell told the Surrey Comet in 2002: "The dog never goes out in the street but she managed to escape as both the back door and the front door were open at the same time."

Campbell is due to be sentenced next week.