CYCLIST Pamela Jones had to be rescued by a motorist after she was bitten on the leg by a Doberman and surrounded by barking dogs.

Magistrates in Chippenham were told Mrs Jones was on a bike ride with her husband Eifion, who was some way in front, when three dogs ran out barking as she cycled through Grittleton on July 13.

Rebecca Hamilton, of Fosse Way, Grittelton, pleaded guilty to having a dangerous dog and failing to keep it under control.

Michelle Hewitt, prosecuting, told the court on Monday that the Doberman bit Mrs Jones on the thigh and circled her for two minutes barking continuously. It started towards her again but she managed to flag down a motorist and bundle herself on to the passenger seat.

The motorist used his car horn to alert Mr Jones, who was 100 yards ahead of his wife, to the drama but as he approached the dogs started barking.

The motorist then herded the dogs into Hamilton's garden using his car as a barrier to prevent them getting out. Mrs Jones was forced to abandon her bike at the scene.

Mr Jones said: "The motorist took my wife to the doctor's surgery and I went back to try and retrieve the bike.

"I couldn't get near it because the dogs were still there, so someone in a horse truck helped me. They had to lift the bike up through the truck window."

Mrs Jones was given antibiotics for her wound.

Paul Orton, defending, said that Hamilton, who is pregnant, did not hear Mrs Jones' shouts because her home is 200 yards away from the road and she was sleeping.

He said Hamilton, who owns a Great Dane one of the three dogs involved and was looking after the Doberman for her mother, accepted full responsibility for the attack and has put up gates and fencing around her home to prevent the dogs escaping.

He said as far as she knew the dogs were inside her home, but the Great Dane may have been able to let the dogs out by reaching the door handle.

Mr Orton said there had been lots of cyclists going up and down the road and Hamilton believed it might have excited her Great Dane and the Doberman. He added the arrival of the third dog could have made her dogs more aggressive.

Mr Orton said: "This is a family with an impeccable record and my client has shown her remorse by her guilty plea. It was a one off. The dog that bit Mrs Jones is nine years old and has never done anything like this before. "

Magistrates said that though it was a nasty incident they had taken into consideration the efforts Hamilton had made to make her property safe.

She was fined £55 and ordered to pay £115 compensation to Mrs Jones for the bite and damage to her shorts.