THE KENT solicitor who saved pit bull terrier Dempsey from death row has reacted angrily to an MP's jibe that solicitors were cashing in due to the Act's complexity.

The accusation was levelled at Trevor Cooper last week as he gave evidence to the enquiry of the Home Affairs select committee into the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

He ignored the jibe during the hearing but stressed afterwards that half his work acting for allegedly dangerous dogs was done for free.

“I want what is best for the public and the dogs,” said Cooper, a partner at Canterbury firm Sharratts and the UK's most high-profile dangerous dogs solicitor.

During the hearing, he argued that magistrates should be able to spare dogs from death on grounds of good behaviour and grant them bail.

He told the committee and a packed public gallery: “Although the public needs to be protected from dangerous dogs, at the moment dogs are discriminated against for being a certain type regardless of their behaviour.”