Police dog that killed gran had bitten 10 others
A POLICE dog which savaged a frail grandmother in her home had previously bitten ten people, an inquest heard yesterday.
Cleveland police were unaware of German shepherd Dano’s ‘concerning’ history – which included biting a man on the face – when they bought the dog from another force.
Instead, they were told by Thames Valley and Hampshire Police’s joint dog unit that he had an ‘excellent temperament’.
Irene Collins, 73, was bitten three times after Dano went into ‘prey drive’ while searching for a drug suspect in her garden and burst through her back door.
Teesside Coroner’s Court was told the pensioner died four days after the attack, which left her screaming and lying in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor.
Yesterday assistant coroner Karin Welsh read out details of ten occasions when Dano had bitten people and one incident where he had bitten another dog before it joined Cleveland.
On one occasion he bit someone in the face during a public order operation involving Crystal Palace fans at Reading railway station in 2010.
He also bit his kennel maid or handler when he was being given flea treatment, and on another occasion he attacked a dog after bolting out of a van, straight past his handler. The dog walker wrote to the police to complain, and said it was a ‘huge cause for concern’ that the unit was deploying an ‘aggressive’ dog.
Retired dog handler PC Mark Robson, who organised Dano’s transfer to Cleveland Police, said the rest of the biting incidents appeared to have happened during lawful deployments when Dano was instructed to detain suspects.
PC Robson told the inquest he was not shown paperwork detailing Dano’s history of biting when he travelled to kennels to view him.
He said he was ‘very impressed’ by Dano when he tested the dog, and agreed to transfer him to his force.
PC Robson said: ‘The bite to the face and the bite to the other dog. They would cause me concern. If we had known about the bite to the face, we may never have even gone to view the dog in the first place.
‘When I asked if there was anything to be concerned about, I would have expected the force to tell me.’ PC Robson agreed it would have been prudent to ask to see the paperwork.
Dano’s performance at Cleveland before biting Mrs Collins was ‘outstanding’, he said.
The coroner asked PC Robson if he was surprised to hear about the incident at her Middlesbrough home in July 2014. He replied: ‘Yeah, I was horrified.’
Dano’s handler on the day of the attack, PC Mark Baines, told the jury he called Dano off from biting Mrs Collins and got the dog away into the hall, but he backed out of his collar and escaped to bite her on the leg again. Asked to comment on the incident, Mr Robson said: ‘It should never have happened.’
The inquest jury also heard medical evidence from paramedics and hospital staff about how the pensioner – who had lung cancer and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – required skin grafts to the bites on her arm and leg, and surgery to repair her broken forearm.
Mrs Collins was conscious when she was brought into hospital and initially made a good recovery from surgery. But her health deteriorated over subsequent days and she died with her family by her bedside.
Dano was put down after the incident.
The inquest continues.
‘I was horrified’