A HONITON couple say a child could have been killed by shards of glass that severely injured their dog near a play area.

A HONITON couple say a child could have been killed by shards of glass that severely injured their dog near a play area.

Two-year-old lurcher Oscar, owned by Andy and Wendy Ivey, was badly cut at The Bowling Green playing field on Sunday night - just hours after youths were seen smashing bottles at the spot.

Police are reminding nearby residents to report anti-social behaviour at the park immediately.

Mrs Ivey, of Mead View, says: "I have been told that youths were seen in the park the night before, smashing bottles with a golf club.

"Another dog walker picked up glass that weighed over one-and-a-half pounds.

"I would urge people to report every incident at the park, so we can stop a child being killed."

Mr and Mrs Ivey say vet bills will be hard to cover. They are living on benefits following the loss of their tattoo business during last year's recession.

East Devon District Council cleared the remaining glass, but Mr and Mrs Ivey want areas around Honiton cleaned on a more regular basis and extra litter bins provided.

Mrs Ivey met with Sergeant Martin Burrow to discuss the matter on Monday.

Sergeant Burrow said: "I want to stress, if anybody has any concerns they should call us immediately. We will attend and, where we can, we will deal with the matter.

"We had one call at 6.20pm last Saturday night from a resident of Millers Way, who reported seeing girls drinking alcohol in the street. We attended, located the girls and found they were enjoying energy drinks. There was no issue at all.

"Nothing else was reported in the area until 10pm, when we received a second call to say youths were walking down Millers Way with alcohol."

Due to a serious incident in New Street, police were unable to attend for 20 minutes and nobody was present at the time.

Police say they are determined to tackle anti-social behaviour and that is a priority.