A sad story but true, this could have happened to any breed of dog and I am sure there are many stories, given that there are approximately 7 million dog owners in the UK
Studies show that the Daschund is the most likely to bite some one :-/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2254479/Sausage-dogs-are-the-most-aggressive-dogs.html
UK Dog Bite Statistics - United Kingdom Dog Attack Stats
The single breed reported as being most responsible for dog bites requiring hospital treatment in the UK is ‘the Spaniel’. As we know the Spaniel is not a single breed in it’s own right we must drill down that the minority Spaniels such as the Sussex, Clumber, Brittany, Irish Water, Welsh Springer etc are rarer, it is between the English Springer and Cocker Spaniels upon whom the finger of blame is being pointed.
Extrapulated (un-official) Dog Bite Statistics Britain
Britain (United Kingdom)
221,583 people are suggested to be ‘dealing with dog bite’ out of a population of 60,270,708 at any one time.
http://www.stopdogattacks.com/dogbitestatistics/ukdogbitestats
As an interesting aside, it is actually not the dog at all who is responsible for sending people to hospital for bite treatment. That dubious ‘honour’ goes to the Human. Yes, humans bite more people into requiring hospital treatment than dogs.