(46)  Woofie, the French sex goddess and Scots law

After a hearing in Peterhead sheriff court in September 1998, Sheriff Kiernan McLernan ordered the destruction of Woofie, a collie-boxer cross bitch belonging to Terry and Anne Swankie. The Swankies had pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 that their dog was dangerously out of control in a public place, after she barked at (but did not bite) and chased a postman down the street. On 20 November 1998, however, the High Court of Justiciary overturned the sentence. No doubt the court was uninfluenced by a Save Woofie campaign in the tabloid press and the presence in court of Brigitte Bardot, who flew from St Tropez to support Woofie’s appeal. Woofie’s character was further blackened in the course of the proceedings by the calumny contained in some of the court papers that her name was Wolfie.