AN 82-year-old woman has been ordered to destroy her cross-breed Doberman dog after it twice savaged a neighbour's cat which subsequently died.

Kathleen Smith, of Glyndebourne Close, Bemerton Heath, Salisbury, admitted two allegations of not being in control of her ten-year-old pet Kim when she appeared before Salisbury magistrates.

Magistrates heard that the same dog had been involved in an incident in 1993 in which a young girl was bitten, and had been "out of control" for quite some time.

Roger Jones, prosecuting, said that in interview Smith described seeing her dog catch the cat in her jaws as it tried to escape up a wall, but passed the attack off as "a bit of a squabble".

Mr Jones said: "Our concern is that if this dog has such a propensity to attack other animals it does not require much imagination to think what might happen if it came across a young child with, say, a fluffy toy or another pet."

Defence solicitor Peter Stoddart said that Kim had become the old lady's 'soulmate and companion' since being adopted from a rescue centre almost nine years before.

The magistrates concluded that a destruction order was the only responsible solution.

Smith was also ordered to pay costs of £60 and compensation of £70 to the dead cats owners.