‘I could hear her screaming’: Grandmother who teaches vulnerable kids mauled by police dog

A 56-year-old grandmother was left with gaping bite marks in her leg after she was attacked by a police dog.

Doreen Peart, a teacher who works with vulnerable children around South London, had called the police to protect her family from an attacker when she herself was bitten by a police dog.

On January 21, Doreen was confronted by a man with a knife and baseball bat at her nephew’s flat in Swiftsden Way, Bromley, after returning from a dinner with her sister, nephew and husband.

She said the man who confronted the family was a resident of the building, 

Doreen called the police while her sister, Cheryl Peart, 54, who is a probation officer, waited upstairs with her son and Doreen’s husband. 

Doreen said: “After the police got there they asked if I could wait outside.”

She claimed that while she was sitting inside the block of flats outside her nephew’s home, an officer with a police dog walked past and the dog attacked her, holding onto her leg.

Cheryl said: “I could hear my sister screaming.”

Since the attack, Doreen said she has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and regularly sees a psychiatrist.

She said: “I am devastated. I tried to get hold of victim support but they acknowledged my complaint and nothing happened.

“You’re isolated and alone when it’s the police who are the attackers, it’s been a really hostile environment.

“This incident really shook me mentally, because of the way I was treated.

“I haven’t been able to go back to work. I’ve been teaching for 25 years.

“We teach the kids to respect the police, but when you are in that position and when you feel like a dog’s life is more valuable than yours, that makes it difficult. I can’t face the classroom.

“I don’t want to get attacked again.”

The same evening, after Doreen had been attacked, Cheryl was arrested.

Cheryl said: “I sat upstairs crying, saying I was afraid and I wanted a black officer to come. When they finally got a black officer, I exclaimed a racist slur, but it was meant in relief.

“They arrested me for racial abuse against a police officer and I was taken to Brixton police station.”

Cheryl was released on bail and asked to return on July 21 for a hearing.

A spokesman from the Met said: “Police were called at 2am on January 21 to Swiftsden Way, Bromley. 

“When officers were on scene dealing with this incident, a woman was bitten by a police dog.

“A 54-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence. She remains on bail pending further enquiries.”

Pictured top: Swiftsden Way, Doreen’s leg after the attack (Picture: Google Street View, Doreen Peart)