Love Island winner Jack Fincham has been jailed for six weeks after his cane corso dog attacked a man while he was running.
The 32-year-old pleaded guilty at Southend Magistrates’ Court to two counts of being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog, with one of the incidents causing injury.
As well as the jail sentence, he was ordered to pay £3,680 in total, including a £2,000 contribution to kennelling costs, a fine of £961 and £200 compensation.
He gave a thumbs up as he was led to the cells after the sentence was announced, as a woman in the public gallery cried.
The court heard his dog Elvis bit a runner in his home town of Swanley, Kent, in September 2022.
Fincham was going to be cautioned and take part in a responsible dog ownership course after the man accepted an apology, said prosecutor Erin Peck. Conditions were made including that his dog must be muzzled, she added.
However, in June last year there was a second incident in Grays, Essex, when the dog was out of control. Fincham was later charged.
Presiding magistrate Anne Wade, sentencing, said Fincham was subject to a suspended sentence order at the time of the incident in Swanley. This was for 12 weeks custody, suspended for 18 months, for an unrelated driving matter.
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Ms Wade said this order would be activated in part and issued the six-week prison sentence.
“The dog was in a public place not abiding by the conditions to be muzzled and kept on a lead,” she said.
Richard Cooper, representing Fincham, said the defendant had “no savings” to pay the £3,680.
Ms Wade said he could pay in instalments, initially at £400 per month.
She made an order that the dog must be muzzled in public places, be kept on a lead, and not be left alone with anyone under the age of 16.
Fincham rose to fame after winning the fourth series of Love Island with his then girlfriend Dani Dyer in 2018. The pair were favourites throughout the series after being “coupled up” from the start.
They announced their break-up six months after leaving the show’s villa in Majorca.
