A PAIR of Staffordshire Terrier crosses mauled three cats to death and attacked a woman during a horrific killing spree on a Southampton estate.

The dogs broke free from a garden in Saturn Close in Lordshill when a canvasser left the gate open and caused havoc when they raced around nearby streets.

One of the animals has been put down while the other, a bitch which recently gave birth to puppies, is staying at city council kennels to feed them before a decision is taken on her.

Susan Wells, 45, was walking with her nine-year-old Labrador-cross Collie, Taffy, when she was confronted by them and believes the dogs may have killed as many as seven cats during their killing spree.

She suffered bite marks on her arm and claimed her pet was savaged and was now afraid to leave her Mercury Close home.

She said: "I've been having nightmares ever since and keep getting flashbacks to what happened.

"These dogs appeared and one of them had a cat in its mouth, it was horrific.

"It dropped the cat on the lawn and attacked me and I was thrown to the ground and the other got hold of my dog and was throwing it around."

She said her ordeal only ended when two neighbours, armed with a spade, chased the two dogs away. She said that she is now taking sleeping tablets to overcome her nightmares about the horrific attack.

Debbie Fredericks, 34, whose 11-year-old cat Dusty was killed by the dogs, was phoned at work by her mother-in-law, who saw the attack.

"I'm devastated," she said. "When you lose a pet through illness or old age, although you grieve for them you can accept it because it's inevitable.

"But when something like this happens, when it could have been prevented, it makes it much worse."

Foster parent Michael Cooper, 62, of Saturn Close, who owned the two dogs, said he was devastated over the incident.

He said he believed it happened when a canvasser opened the gate, saw the dogs, Brownie, three, and Tilly, five, in the garden and panicked, leaving the gate open.

He added he and his partner had cared for more than 50 children and had never had a problem with the dogs.

"We have a sign at the gate saying we have dogs and we made the garden fully secure.

"When they have sometimes got out before they have caused a bit of a nuisance but no more.

"I'm devastated by what has happened and feel for everybody who has been affected. I wanted to apologise to everyone, but the police said it would be better to stay away.

"When the police came I just told them to put them down, I knew they had to after this - there was no way I could trust them again.

"When Brownie came back I couldn't see him, I was in my bedroom in tears, I just told them to take him away.

"We're not belittling what's happened because what they did was wrong.

"But it was a shock to us because we just didn't think they were capable of it and they had never done anything like this before."