How Sir Keir Starmer used the European Court of Human Rights to fight for a pet dog called Dino

It can be a dog's life being a human rights lawyer, as Sir Keir Starmer found when he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to get a reprieve for a death row inmate – a pet alsatian called Dino.

When Sir Keir was making his name as a Left-wing barrister in 2002, the now Labour leader – who last week exploited Tory divisions over whether international human rights laws should stop Britain sending migrants to Rwanda – agreed to fight a destruction order made against Dino.

The saga started in January 2001 when Dino was being walked in Grangewood Park, Northampton, and attacked a five-year-old terrier called Ralph.

Elizabeth Coull, who was walking Ralph, tried to pull the animals apart, but Dino bit through the palm of her right hand and the knuckle of her left hand, damaging tendons. 

Magistrates ordered Dino to be destroyed under the Dangerous Dogs Act, and fined the owner, Bryan Lamont, £100, plus £2,552 in compensation. 

Insisting Dino had a good temperament 'apart from that one incident', he launched an appeal that ended up lasting more than three years and costing £65,000. 

After the case was heard and dismissed by magistrates, Northampton Crown Court, the High Court and the House of Lords, Mr Lamont turned to Sir Keir – who asked the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the destruction order.

Extraordinarily, after it decided it could only enforce human rights, Dino was spared when the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to crown court, where a 12-minute video saved him.

The film showed Dino, then seven, playing harmlessly with other dogs. 

Animal expert Roger Mugford told Northampton Crown Court: 'A death sentence is a bit extreme. The dog is substantially reformed. He has passed those teenage years.' 

Judge Patrick Eccles said: 'A dog will have his day, said the Bard – and Mr Lamont's devotion has allowed Dino to have his day.'