SONIA White and Jacqueline Tait were good neighbours until their dogs clashed in a back garden.

Swindon Crown Court heard that Sonia White need-ed hospital treatment after being attacked in her garden at Imber Walk, Penhill, last March by her neighbour's Staffordshire bull terrier, Ben.

The dog was usually kept away from her Yorkshire terrier Toby because of Ben's dislike of other dogs but Ben lunged at her as she held her smaller dog, and she was bitten on both arms.

Jacqueline Tait, 48, of Imber Walk, was yesterday found not guilty of allowing her pet to enter a place where it should not have been and injuring Mrs White.

A jury of six men and six women took just less than an hour to acquit Mrs Tait, who works as a social services night support worker.

After the day-long trial, she said: "Justice has been done.

"I have apologised for the incident, but the fact is Ben doesn't like other dogs.

"He's a former pub dog and absolutely brilliant with people and kids. But he just went for the dog next door."

She added that she was fully supportive of the Dangerous Dogs Act, which sets out to ensure owners keep their animals under control.

Mrs White declined to comment after the hearing.

She told the court that she thought next door's dog was not outside but it pounced when it saw her and her dog.

"I picked up my dog," she said. "Next door's dog managed to get into my garden. First of all the dog jumped up at me.

"Then he bit my left arm. I was holding my dog in the air. I screamed and said 'He's biting me'." Mrs White, who has since moved home, said that the Staffordshire bull terrier then grabbed her right arm in its teeth and wouldn't let go.

"I was screaming for help," she said. "Then the man next door threw something at the dog and it ran back into the house."

The court heard that Mrs White was treated at Swin-don's Princess Margaret Hos-pital for puncture wounds to both arms, and spent three days there after picking up an infection.

Mrs Tait told the court that Mrs White's fence had blown down in gales and had not been repaired.

She said that she had gone out shopping that morning, but had told her partner and son to keep an eye on the Staffordshire bull terrier.

She told the court that the dog used to live at the Deer's Leap pub in Penhill but became a family owned dog living at her home.

"Before the incident the dog bit a Great Dane," she told the court. "He doesn't like dogs but he's fine with people."

She told the jury that she was upset and annoyed about Mrs White being bitten, had apologised to her and allowed Mrs White to stroke him later that day without a problem.

"My son was indoors and my partner was outside that morning," she said.

"I just said 'keep an eye on Ben' and I noticed that Sonia's door was shut. I always checked her door."

The women remained on speaking terms until two months after the incident when Mrs White moved to Toothill. Since then they have lost touch.