POLICE DOG MAULS GRANNY TO DEATH
Innocent Irene’s horror as cops hunted suspect
A FRAIL pensioner died after being savaged twice in her own kitchen by a police dog.
The animal attacked her once before being restrained by its handler during a search for a suspect – then broke free to maul Irene Collins again, an inquest heard.
AN ill pensioner died after being savaged twice by a snarling police dog which burst into her kitchen.
Irene Collins, 73, had let officers into her garden as they chased a suspected drug dealer believed to be hiding there.
But instead of tracking him down, German shepherd Dano charged into the house and sank its teeth into defenceless Irene’s arm.
As she lay screaming on the floor, the dog’s handler, Pc Mark Baines, managed to prise its jaws apart and drag the animal into the hall.
But the dog struggled free and ran back into the kitchen again, this time locking its mouth on Irene’s leg.
Armed response officer Sgt Neil Yates told an inquest: “I was shouting to Pc Baines to get the dog off.
“Mrs Collins was screaming. She was upset and asking: ‘Why is this happening to me?’
“I was trying to reassure her while telling Pc Baines to get the dog off her. I held her hand and told her: ‘It is OK, we are getting the dog off you.’
“There was quite a lot of blood coming from her leg.
“My concern was mostly about the loss of blood.’’
Irene, who had lung cancer and emphysema, died in hospital four days after the attack at her home in Middlesbrough. A pathologist who conducted a post-mortem ruled that although she was ill she would not have died if she had not been bitten by the dog.
A jury at Teesside Coroner’s Court in the town yesterday began hearing evidence about the 2014 attack. Sgt Yates told the hearing Irene did nothing to antagonise the dog.
Det Insp Anthony Rock, of Cleveland Police’s professional standards unit, said Pc Baines had been left “devastated”.
He said the officer later discovered Irene’s back door did not close properly, and Dano could have pushed it open. The hearing continues.
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