01/03/2014 BBC London News

stories on the BBC News Channel. That's all from me,

rid of this cloud across the East which is rather I Tha

Good afternoon. The parents of a five`year`old boy from Surrey who

was mauled by a dog are backing calls from a judge to have longer

prison sentences for owners. Currently, the maximum term is just

two years. A warning that Emilia Papadopoulos's report contains

images of injuries that some viewers may find disturbing.

From a distance, Alex looks like any other five`year`old. But look a

little closer, and you can still see the scars. It was just over a year

ago that he was attacked in a park in Ashford by a dog that wasn't on a

lead. The dog just ran up behind us and immediately jumped up. I

physically couldn't get the dog off him, I was still holding on to Alex

and he pulled me over. I tried to stick my hands in, hoping that he'd

bite me instead. And then immediately afterwards, Alex's face

was literally ripped from mouth to ear.

The owner of the dog that attacked Alex went to prison for four months.

This week, another man whose dog seriously injured a four`year`old in

Camden was given the maximum jail term of two years. Inside court, the

judge said the current law prevented him from handing out a more severe

punishment. The maximum sentence for owners of

dogs who cause injury is just two years, but the Government is making

amendments to the Dangerous Dogs Act, and by the spring owners of

dogs who attack or even kill members of the public could face up to 14

years in prison. One man who's been instrumental in

changing the current legislation is Bedford MP Richard Fuller. Unless we

move the penalty forward and give the police the right power to enable

people to be given the right sentence, we will not be tackling

the problem early on. It is getting too serious to ignore. Last year in

London, 604 people received hospital treatment for injuries from dogs.

That is a 5% increase on the year before. Alex's parents say there is

a need for harsher sentencing. If these people are going to have these

kind of dogs, and they're going to treat them like they do, they've got

to take the consequences. This April, Alex's dad will be running

the London Marathon to raise money for St George's Hospital, who

treated his son. No doubt Alex will be there to cheer him on.

The Olympic Pool in Stratford has opened its doors to the public. From

today, Londoners will be able to use the pool where so many records were

broken during the 2012 Games. Anjana Gadgil has been down there.

It used to be screaming crowds of spectators here, but now it is

splashing crowds of Londoners instead, some of whom were not even

born when the Olympics were held. How often do you think you will

come? Maybe every two weeks. How much difference does it make to have

a facility like this on your doorstep? It is great, we live about

five or six Tube stops away, so even if we come on the Tube, it is easy

to get to. And it is a much better facility than our local one. It is

really an impressive place to come. These spaces really good for a

family, it is easy to bring a child, parking and like that. Thank you

very much, guys. As well as the family pool, we have got lanes

behind us and a diving board. As you can see, on the opening weekend, it

is already proving very popular. A look at today's weather, mainly

dry and bright. A small chance of an odd short shower as the temperature

reaches a high of ten Celsius. That's it for now. Join me again

just after six o'clock this evening on BBC One. Until then, have a very

good afternoon. Hello there. The first day of

March, and quite a wintry chill to the first thing, but conditions have

improved a lot, a lot of sunshine have there, so the daffodils you can

see behind me, a good sunny Saint David's day across Wales. We will

hold onto the sunshine for