Family’s tribute to gran killed by dogs
THE family of a great-grandmother who was killed in an attack by two dogs in her garden have said they will “miss her dearly”.
Lucille Downer, 85, suffered multiple injuries in the horrifying incident on Friday in Rowley Regis, West Midlands Police said.
The owner of the dogs, a 43-yearold man, was arrested shortly after the incident and has been bailed pending further inquiries.
In a statement, Ms Downer’s family said: “Lucille was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who spent her working years as a cook at Bromford House Care Home inwest Bromwich.
“Lucille was born in Jamaica and emigrated to the UK in her early 20s.
Since arriving in the UK, Rowley Regis has always been her home and her family will miss her dearly.”
Police last night said the large dogs were believed to have got in through a hole in a neighbouring fence.
Relatives of the victim, who live close by, tried to help and the dogs’ owner was able to get them back into his garden, but Ms Downer was pronounced dead at the scene.
She is understood to have lived alone and is said to have suffered with dementia. Floral tributes were left on her drive yesterday, one bearing the message “RIP Nan”.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s so horrible. I feel so terrible about it all.” Other neighbours said they had seen the dogs being walked previously and “they seemed well behaved”.
Superintendent Phil Asquith, of West Midlands Police, said: “Neighbours called to report that a woman was under attack from dogs from a neighbouring property.
“Our officers attended, by which point the dogs had returned through a hole in the fence to the adjacent property and then, unfortunately, despite the best efforts of medical professionals, that lady died at the scene.”
The dogs were tranquilised and taken to secure kennels where they remained yesterday awaiting DNA tests to determine their breed.