A FIVE-year-old girl has been left with severe facial injuries after being mauled by a ‘pitbull-type’ dog this weekend.

The terrifying incident happened as Courtney Bradshaw and her two-year-old sister Mia Harrison-Bradshaw played in a friend’s bedroom.

Courtney was left with ‘deep cuts and lacerations’ to her face and head, which one officer described as ‘the worst thing’ he had seen.

She underwent a seven-hour emergency operation on Saturday, and is expected to need further plastic surgery.

Her mum said Courtney had walked to a house in Charter Street, Accrington, just yards from her home, to ask what time she should go round for a party, later that day, and stopped to play.

Claire Bradshaw, 29, said: “She was only gone for five minutes and was at my friend’s house with Mia.

"I can’t remember a lot, just that someone came in to tell me a dog had my child.

"I thought it was Mia at first. I ran down the street and she was in my friend’s arms.

"It was just horrific. I went with her in the ambulance. She was very sleepy, but has not cried once.

“She just said to me ‘Mummy, I went to cuddle the doggy and it started biting me’.

"After she had some X-rays, she said to my mum ‘it’s not a naughty doggy’.”

Claire, who spent almost 24 hours at Courtney’s bedside in Royal Blackburn Hospital, following the incident at 11.30am on Saturday, said she thought the dog was a pitbull-type, which her friend had only had for a matter of days.

Courtney, a pupil at St Paul’s Primary School, Accrington, has two other sisters, Paige Bradshaw, seven, and Freya Harrison-Bradshaw, one.

Sergeant Steve Hilton said: “The first officer on the scene saw the young girl in the back of the ambulance and she had quite serious facial injuries.

“It would appear she had been bitten on the right side of her face near her eye, with the skin ripped down.

"There was quite a deep laceration to her head and a nasty split ear, with small puncture wounds.

"It was not pleasant at all, an awful scene. In the words of the officer, it was the worst thing he’s seen since he’s been in the job.”

Police said the dog, called ‘Scratch’, belongs to Janine Thompson.

It is thought to be a pitbull-type dog and a vet was to confirm the breed this morning.

When the Lancashire Telegraph called at the address on Saturday evening a sign on the letter box read ‘Warning, dogs running free’.

A man at the mid-terrace house said: “Everyone is absolutely devastated. The girl just went to pet the dog and it exploded.”

Sgt Hilton said: “The family that own the dog were very shaken up and voluntarily handed it over.

"We are looking at relevant inquiries, such as what breed of dog it is.

“It is more than likely the dog will be destroyed.”