A DOG owner has made a formal complaint after being threatened with arrest and fined £50 because she failed to spot her Jack Russell leaving a small souvenir on a north Devon beach.

Four police cars were dispatched after a dog warden caught Camilla Sharpe’s terrier Molly in flagrante.

Mrs Sharpe, who was using a public lavatory at the time, failed to spot the incident.

She claims that she offered to clear up the mess but the warden had refused to even tell her where it was and insisted that she had to sign a piece of paper accepting the fine. When she refused, the warden called the police, who arrived moments later, sirens blaring.

Mrs Sharpe, an otherwise law-abiding 36-year-old restaurant owner, was walking Molly with a friend, Sam Gosling, on Instow beach when she clashed with the warden from North Devon District Council.

She said: “The warden just kept saying we had missed the point and that we should have seen that the dog had done it. She kept saying we had to sign this form, but I refused and said I wouldn’t sign it until she showed me where the poo was.

Sam had offered to pick it up with a tissue, but she said it had to be a plastic bag.” Mrs Sharpe was walking back to her car as the police arrived. She was told to sign the form or be arrested. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said four units had been dispatched to the scene because the incident was reported by the dog warden as a “disorder with persons on the beach”.

North Devon District Council’s environmental health manager, Jeremy Mann, said: “I have reviewed the file and I consider the fixed penalty was issued properly.

“The dog warden units work to an enforcement policy which we consider fair. I am satisfied that policy was followed in this case.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating