BRITAIN: Princess Anne should appear before a court next month to face allegations that her dog bit two children, an English district judge ruled yesterday.
East Berkshire Magistrates Court in Slough heard that her bull terrier allegedly injured the children aged seven and 12, who were walking in Windsor Great Park, on April 1st - two days after the death of the Queen Mother.
Her barrister told the court the Princess Royal had been unable to attend yesterday's hearing because she is in Ethiopia on behalf of a charity but the district judge ordered her and her husband, Commodore Tim Laurence, to attend a further hearing on November 21st. The couple have been summonsed under the Dangerous Dogs Act and are alleged to have been in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place and injured the children.
At the end of the 15-minute hearing, District Judge Terence English said: "The court will expect both defendants to be present personally (at the next hearing). They are not proceedings that can take place in their absence." A summons stated: "On April 1, 2002 at Windsor it is said that the defendants were in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place, mainly Windsor Great Park." - (PA)