The traumatised mother of a five-year-old left permanently scarred after he was mauled by a Staffordshire bull terrier in Mitcham is campaigning for the Dangerous Dogs Act to be tightened.

Doctors who carried out emergency surgery said reconstructing parts of Rian Armstrong’s face was like putting together a jigsaw following the attack three weeks ago.

But when his mother Cheryl Barr contacted police she was told they were unable to take action as the Act does not cover attacks on private property. Rian was attacked by a family friend’s dog in their living room.

The Pearson Way resident has since placed posters around her estate warning of the dangers of irresponsible dog handling and this week welcomed moves by the deputy Mayor of London, Kit Malthouse, to expand the Dangerous Dogs Act to cater for attacks on the dog owner’s private property.

Ms Barr said: “I’m delighted to hear that people are pushing ahead with this. Something needs to be done, I feel incredibly strongly about this.

“Rian’s bounced back but of course this will have a long term impact - I can’t even imagine what went through his head during the attack.

"At first we were told he had 30 stitches but it turns out it was significantly more.

“If even a small change can come out of what happened that would be great.”

Since the attack, the Mayor of London’s office has formally responded to the Government's consultation on dangerous dogs, lobbying for the Dangerous Dogs Act to be extended to private land.

Mr Malthouse, said: “If we want to get a real grip on the problem of dangerous dogs then we have to make bold and ambitious changes to this legislation and give police and magistrates the powers they need to end the scourge of weapon dogs on our street.”

According to the Mayor’s statistics, London's hospitals have seen admissions for dog bites increase by 79 per cent, compared to 43 per cent nationally, in the past five years.