UK: Widow, 73, dies after police dog savages her in her home: Neighbours in shock after door-to-door check ends in horror

An elderly cancer victim has died after a police dog savaged her in her own home. Irene Collins, 73, had answered her door to officers searching the neighbourhood for an escaped suspected drug dealer.

Just as she showed officers into the back garden of her home, the dog pounced, leaving her screaming in terror and covered in blood.

Mrs Collins, who was suffering from lung cancer, was taken to hospital but died over the weekend. Neighbours claimed to have warned officers beforehand that she was in a frail condition.

One said: ‘She wasn’t bitten, she was mauled. A relative told me the dog had punctured and broken her arm, ripped her other arm, and then managed to bite off her calf muscle after it had been restrained.’

Another neighbour said: ‘It was horrible, everyone could hear her screaming right across the street. It was a shock to see her. She had blood across her face, and she was grey with shock.

‘The police dog handler had searched my house earlier and he was in tears. He looked devastated by what happened.’

Cleveland Police said Mrs Collins had suffered ‘bites about her body’. Officers said the dog had been ‘withdrawn from operational policing activities’, but it was not clear whether it had been destroyed.

The tragedy, which happened in Middlesbrough last Wednesday night, was said to have left the whole street in shock.

Mrs Collins, a widow for 30 years, had opened the door to officers chasing a suspected drugs dealer who had fled through gardens after being stopped in a car nearby.

A resident said: ‘The street was full of police. There was a helicopter searching from above and about seven police cars.

‘A car had apparently been stopped and the driver ran off into our estate. The police were knocking on doors and asking to search people’s back gardens and outbuildings. Someone told them Irene was ill but they went to her door anyway.’

Mrs Collins was said to have answered the door at the side of her house and was about to show the officers into her back garden when the dog, described as a cross between a springer spaniel and an alsatian, attacked her. After being treated at the scene she was taken to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, where she died.

Speaking soon after the drama, neighbour Claire Williams said: ‘Irene was lying on the kitchen floor while the police attended to her.

‘She was in ill health already. She barely leaves the house, her breathing is very poor and she’s about six stone.

'I warned the police to be careful and told them she may not make it to the door but they went anyway. It’s horrific what happened to her.’

Mrs Collins’ family issued a brief statement thanking people for their ‘kind messages’.

Jose Pearson, 85, a neighbour for almost 60 years, described Mrs Collins as a lovely woman.

‘All the work she did was for charity,’ she said. ‘For years it was all she did, working in a charity shop.’

The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Original report here

　

　

　

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