Woman, 73, died four days after being bitten twice by patrol dog

AN ELDERLY woman died after being bitten by a police dog when she tried to help officers search for a drug dealer, an inquest was told.

Irene Collins, who had lung cancer and suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was bitten on two occasions by the dog, who had already been dragged off her by a handler.

The hearing at Teesside magistrates’ court was told Mrs Collins, 73, died four days after she was bitten on the arm and leg by the dog, called Dano, in her kitchen in Middlesbrough.

A Home Office pathologist initially reported she would not have died, despite her medical problems, had she not been bitten.

Pc Mark Baines had been called in with Dano to help find the suspect after a car containing heroin and cash worth £100,000 had been stopped by police and a man had escaped. Sgt Neil Yates, an armed officer, had spoken to Mrs Collins earlier to explain the need for the search on the evening in July 2014, and gained her permission. He agreed she would not have been aware a dog would be involved.

The dog had carried out a sweep of

‘Mrs Collins … was “screaming, upset, crying, saying ‘why has this happened to me?”’

the garden, with Pc Baines following in an arc, when it somehow got in her house, the inquest was told.

Sgt Yates was outside the house when he heard over the radio that the dog had bitten the homeowner.

When he went inside, he saw Mrs Collins on the floor, bleeding from the head, with Dano biting her forearm and Pc Baines shouting for it to “leave”, and grabbing its collar. He managed to get the dog away into the hallway and, as Sgt Yates went to treat her, Pc Baines shouted at him to close the door.

However, there was only an archway linking the hall and kitchen and the dog got free to attack her again, biting her on the leg and attaching itself to Mrs Collins who was “screaming, upset, crying, saying ‘why has this happened to me?’”

Pc Baines was said to have grabbed the dog by its collar and managed to get it off for a second time. Matthew Donkin, for the family, asked if Sgt Yates, who was carrying a pistol, ever considered shooting the dog. He replied: “I considered everything but that was not an option that was anywhere near viable. I was confident he would get the dog off in a reasonable time.”

Mrs Collins was taken by ambulance to the James Cook University Hospital, where she died four days later. The inquest continues.