A WOMAN has been warned she may be jailed over the condition of five dogs belonging to her and her son.

Police raided Nora and Sonny Mannion’s home in Denmark Street, East Oxford, after her bull terrier Yao attacked another in the street.

Some of the dogs had scarring and suspected cigarette burns on them, district judge Timothy Pattinson was told.

All had to be destroyed because they were too aggressive to be rehomed, according to the RSPCA.

Ms Mannion and her 21-year-old son Sonny admitted failing to prevent the animals from being injured, but they escaped prosecution over the alleged burns as the RSPCA had no firm evidence that they were caused by cigarettes or that the defendants were to blame.

Ms Mannion, 46, also admitted causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by failing to arrange veterinary care for the bitch named Yao.

The dog had a bite to her head which was reopened and infected when she was punched and kicked by members of the public to make her release the collie dog she had bitten in the street attack.

Ms Mannion also confessed to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place, when she appeared before Judge Pattinson in Bicester.

Jeremy Cave, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: “Yao was let out of the house and was involved in an attack which led to the involvement of the police (on May 18, 2011).

“On May 26 the police executed a search warrant issued under the Dangerous Dogs Act. No one was present but they found five dogs.”

The bull terrier-cross animals – named Yao, Bully, Marley, Cannon and Blingers – were taken to RSPCA kennels and examined by a vet.

The worst injury found was a 10cm infected cut on Yao’s head.

Talking of all of the dogs, Mr Cave said: “There are numerous small injuries.

“The vet calculated that some are clearly from fighting and some might be from cigarette burns.”

He added: “We make it clear we do not maintain they were definitively from cigarette burns, but those dogs had numerous injuries about their heads and bodies and the allegation is about failure to prevent the injuries.”

Judge Pattinson said he was concerned that the injuries seemed to have been inflicted frequently.

The dogs had also not been wormed and Ms Mannion had earlier accepted a further charge of neglect by failing to provide parasitic treatment.

Stuart Matthews and Daniel Wright, defending, acknowledged that their clients had problems controlling the dogs and that Sonny had been looking for new homes for some of them.

Mr Matthews also said Ms Mannion suffered from mental health problems.

The pair will be sentenced on March 19 and Judge Pattinson warned Ms Mannion at Wednesday’s hearing that prison was a possibility.

RSPCA inspector Kirsty Withnall said: “The dogs’ scarring had not just happened as a one-off.”