'Hero' saves mum and baby from triple dog attack

William Newbury was dropping off newborn baby presents to his friend when he saw the attack through the letterbox

A mum has described the man who saved her and her one-week-old baby as they were being attacked by three dogs as a "true hero".

William Newbury, 22, helped Emily Drew, 19, and her baby when he saw the "nightmare" attack through the letterbox, having arrived to deliver presents for the baby.

Ms Drew said she thought she and her baby would die when the attack took place, in Llanrumney, Cardiff, which left Mr Newbury with various injuries all over his body, including losing the use of two fingers on his left hand.

"He's saved two lives. He needs to remember that my son has a true hero," Ms Drew said.

South Wales Police said the three Staffordshire bull terriers involved in the attack on 30 March had been destroyed, but no arrests had been made.

Ms Drew said she tried to do everything she could to protect her baby, including covering him so the dogs could not attack him.

"It was so scary. I thought I was going to die that day," she said, adding that at one point she thought her baby was dead as he was silent.

"All I cared about was the baby had got out alive."

Mr Newbury, from Roath, described hearing screaming as he arrived at the house and originally thinking it was a baby crying in the garden.

"It turned out to be the mother, I went up to the letterbox and looked through and saw the mum and the baby being attacked by three dogs," he said.

"The door must have been locked or broken as I couldn't get in, but I tried banging on the door and shouting through the letterbox to try and distract the dogs."

He said one of the dogs was distracted by his attempts, but the two others continued attacking them.

Emily Drew said she thought she and her one-week-old son would die in the attack

"Luckily there was a downstairs window that was open and I didn't even think about it, I went straight in."

Mr Newbury said he helped pick the mother up and pass the baby out the window when the dogs started attacking him.

"They were all targeting me, nothing I did was stopping them, I was hitting one of the dogs trying to get it to stop, but it didn't work."

He recalled being in the house for about 20 minutes and having to be taken to hospital to be treated for various injuries.

William Newbury has lost the use of two fingers on his left hand

"They got me on my leg, hands, arm, side of my face, my stomach, my lower back, basically head to toe," he added.

Mr Newbury said he spent a week in hospital before being released, but his recovery was continuing.

The mum and baby were also treated in hospital for their injuries, which were not life-threatening.

Meanwhile, Mr Newbury said he had been told by doctors that his little finger on his left hand "would never function normally again".

William Newbury says he has nightmares and relives the incident every day

"I refuse to be scared of dogs, but if a dog comes up to me now, I do step out of its way.

"I've already had one counselling session to get over this, I've had nightmares, I can replay the whole situation in my head, it's horrible."

South Wales Police said officers were called to the incident and all three people involved suffered injuries that required treatment but were not life-threatening.