"Dad used to be the glue" - family of Bognor pensioner who lost two limbs following dog attack
A Chichester woman who owned the dog was sentenced to two years yesterday - but Vic Franklin's family say that changes nothing
The family of a Bognor Regis pensioner who lost two limbs in an unprovoked dog attack say their dad "used to be the glue" in the family before their injuries.
Vic Franklin had been walking his own dog through Lewes Road when he was attacked for a total of 11 minutes in August 2023.
His injuries were so severe he lost a chunk of his ear and had to have an arm and a leg amputated, with the dogs only stopped from attacking him further if a neighbour hadn't fought the dogs off with a spirit level.
Yesterday, the owners of the dogs, two Rottweilers, were sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court after admitting being in charge of a dog "dangerously out of control and causing injury".
27-year-old Chloe Taylor was jailed for over two years, while her partner Matthew Roberts was handed a suspended sentence.
But Lee Franklin, Vic's son, said that "no sentence here will ever make life better for us".
"He used to look after the grandkids, and care for my mum whose not very well. That's all been taken away from us.
"The emphasis is now on me and my brother, we care for both of them now.
"It's stressful, it's hard."
Vic described how the injuries changed his life: "Taking the granddaughter over the park, picking her up from school - things like that, it's really really heartbreaking I can't do anymore.
"But I still see her, and I'm still here, and that's the main thing. "
He added that he'll still "stop and say hello" to a dog if he sees one on the street: "It doesn't bother me because I know 99.9% of dog owners are responsible.
"It's just unfortunately that little 1% that don't do what they should do."