A schoolboy has been left with horrific injuries after being attacked by a pitbull-type dog in a park in the Black Country.

Nine-year-old Joshua Jones was bitten in his right thigh as he sat on a park bench in Ratcliffe Park, West Bromwich.

The Harvills Hawthorn Primary School pupil had to undergo a long operation and was left with 10 internal stitches and five external ones.Joshua was bitten at 5.30pm on Friday.

He was kept in hospital overnight on Friday and Saturday and is now recovering at home in Warwick Close, Hill Top.

His mother, 28-year-old Natalie McCarthy, said the boy was on two sets of painkillers and had to miss school this week.

Miss McCarthy said: “He was playing with a group of friends when the dog just went for him. He was rushed to hospital and was, and still is, in a lot of pain.”

Miss McCarthy said her son had not been the same since the attack.“I’m angry that something like this could happen when my son was just out enjoying himself in the sunshine.”