A herbalist who has starred on TV has been found guilty of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place after her pet bit a woman through an open car window.

Weymouth magistrates heard that Eleanor Gallia, of Nether Cerne Manor, near Dorchester, left her two German wirehaired pointers in her car with the windows partly down while she made a quick visit to the county town market.

Holidaymaker Christine Sykes told the court she was bitten by one of the dogs as she weaved between cars in Dorchester Market car park on August 5 last year at around 11am.

Mrs Sykes, 68, from the West Midlands, said she took the detour because a lorry had blocked the walkway and as she passed Gallia’s silver Peugeot car she ‘heard a bark and felt a sharp pain’ at the top of her left arm.

She moved quickly away and called her daughter and husband who were a short distance behind.

Daughter Michelle Sykes, 30, said her mum was a ‘large lady’ who had walked sideways to get through the gap but would not have taken an unsuitable route.

Miss Sykes used her mother’s camera to immediately photograph the injury, one of the dogs and the car, while her parents reported the incident to the market office and then the police Mrs Sykes said her ‘nasty injury’ was treated at Dorset County Hospital with strong antibiotics and a tetanus jab.

Gallia, a 38-year-old medical herbalist, who has featured on Channel Four’s River Cottage and BBC Two’s Victorian Pharmacy, denied the charge and said she left the windows a third of the way down, following police advice on a previous occasion, to ensure her dogs had enough air to circulate.

The court heard that she spent no more than 40 minutes in the market and had returned to the car during that time.

Gallia did not hear of the incident until three weeks later on August 23, when PC Jeremy Cuff of Dorchester police contacted her.

Gallia said that both 13-year-old Hoodlum and her son Lochi, six, were ‘loyal, affectionate and kind’ pets who were great with other animals and people and she could only presume they had been frightened in some way.

Magistrates heard that Lochi was a television star in his own right and Victorian Pharmacy series director Martin Kemp attended court to vouch for his gentle temperament.

Magistrates found Gallia guilty and gave her a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered her to pay £750 compensation and £930 in court costs.

No order of destruction was made for the dogs because the prosecution could not prove which dog was responsible.

Chairman of the magistrates’ bench Mike Owen told Gallia: “Windows should be left open but not enough to allow significant room for a dog to bite someone.

“By allowing this to happen you are guilty of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control.”