ANDREW RAIT, a 33 year old professional golfer, won a token payout of £4,900 last week following a claim that his sporting career was ruined when a dog bit his little finger leaving it half a centimetre shorter.

His original claim for £6million was rejected and the award will be swallowed up by legal costs. The claim arose out of an incident at St George’s Hill Golf Club in June 1995 when a dog bit the golfer after it was involved in a fight at the club with own dog.