A council has been given a deadline to respond to a coroner’s concerns over dog licensing following the death of a two-year-old.

Worcestershire’s senior coroner David Reid told Wychavon District Council it needed to do more to root out “unscrupulous” dog breeders after learning that the current system does not go far enough to catch those selling without a licence.

The demand came after the coroner ruled that two-year-old Lawson Bond was mauled in the garden of his home in Egdon near Worcester last year by a rottweiler belonging to his dog breeder grandmother Maria Bond – who had never owned a licence.

His concerns led the county’s senior coroner to submit the ‘prevention of future death report’ to the council and Worcestershire Regulatory Services – saying that unless it improved there would continue to be a “heightened risk of danger” to those buying unlicensed dogs.

READ MORE: Lawson Bond inquest after dog attack felt like 'witch hunt'

The council has been given until November 13 to respond and chief executive Vic Allison must reveal where it has made improvements, and if none have been made, when it plans to and when those improvements would be made.

Senior coroner Mr Reid ruled that Lawson’s death was the result of ‘misadventure’ after the two-year-old had managed to untie a security chain on a gate and entered a field used for exercising the dogs, where he was then attacked.

The inquest held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court in Stourport also heard that despite Maria Bond being a dog breeder and seller with more than 30 years of experience, she had never possessed, or even applied, for a licence.

Mr Reid criticised Wychavon District Council and Worcestershire Regulatory Services saying he was concerned they were not ‘proactively’ searching for dog breeders and sellers without licences and were instead waiting for tip-offs and complaints.

He said the public would continue to be at risk from “unscrupulous” and unlicensed breeders who might otherwise have not been selling if the council had been more hands-on and stepped in sooner.

After the inquest, Simon Wilkes, head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said animal licensing was one of its “top priorities” and was “pushing to make animal breeding guidance more enforceable.”