Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Mother ‘truly sorry’ over son’s death in dog attack
THE mother of a nine-year-old boy mauled to death by a dog has apologised to his family for her “senseless actions” in leaving the animal with her son.
Tawnee Willis left Frankie MacRitchie alone in a caravan with a 45kg American bulldog cross Staffordshire bull terrier.
Frankie, from Plymouth, sustained fatal head injuries after being attacked by the dog, called Winston, in April 2019 at the Tencreek Holiday Park in Looe, Cornwall.
Addressing Frankie’s father, Billy MacRitchie, and grandmother, Pauline Elford, Ms Willis said: “To Billy, Pauline and everyone, I am truly, truly sorry. I miss him every day and I know they do, and I know their heartbreak – mine does as well.
“I know nothing I will do can ever change what’s happened and I understand that. I am sorry my senseless actions caused them so much heartache, I really am. From the bottom of my heart, I just wish they would get some closure, and I hope they will find some peace.”
Ms Willis later admitted a charge of child neglect and was jailed for two years. The dog’s owner, Sadie Totterdell, was also jailed.
Cornwall Coroner’s Court heard Frankie had been staying in a caravan with his mother and her friend, Ms Totterdell. They had all been out for the evening and returned to the caravan around midnight.
Frankie was left playing computer games while his mother and Ms Totterdell, along with the dog, joined friends in a neighbouring caravan to continue drinking.
Ms Willis said she had checked on her son around four or five times and, on the last occasion, Winston followed her back to the caravan where Frankie was.
“I was going back and forth checking Frankie was all right. I checked around four or five times and the last time the dog followed out of the caravan door,” she told the court.
“I remember I looked at Sadie and said, ‘Is he all right?’, not meaning to go in the caravan but outside, and she said, ‘he’s fine’. When I went into the caravan, the dog followed me in and Frankie asked me if the dog could stay in, and I asked Sadie, ‘Is he all right?’, and she said, ‘Yeah, take Winnie – Winnie loves kids.’
“I just didn’t think anything of it, and I left them there.”
The court heard Frankie had been left alone with the dog unsupervised for over an hour before Ms Willis returned to the caravan at around 4.30am and discovered her son lying on the floor covered in blood.
“The dog was sat on the sofa just looking at me,” she said.
Breaking down in tears, she added: “I was screaming. I remember crouching over Frankie, and he was on his front, and I turned him over. I remember screaming and screaming. I was there ages screaming … It felt like a lifetime.
“I was crouching over him and held him in my arms … I was screaming for a long time before people came.”
Paramedics attempted resuscitation, but Frankie was declared dead at 5.35am.
Dr Deborah Cook, a Home Office registered forensic pathologist, said Frankie had died from blood loss caused by multiple dog bites.
The court heard there had been three previous incidents with the dog.
Andrew Cox, the senior coroner for Cornwall, said: “It does raise the question in my mind whether steps could have been taken earlier that may have avoided this tragic outcome.
“It is manifestly obvious now to us having heard all of the evidence and having learnt of the incidents in 2016 and 2018 that there was a risk of this dog attacking Frankie. At the time Ms Willis did not know that, and I have accepted her evidence.
“The same cannot be said of Ms Totterdell, as she must have known of the earlier incidents and was spoken to by the police following the incident in 2016 and spoken to by the mother of the child bitten in 2018.”
Mr Cox said Ms Willis had made a “serious error of judgment and a serious mistake” in leaving Frankie alone with the dog but her negligence was not sufficient to allow him to record a conclusion of unlawful killing.
Instead, he recorded a narrative conclusion and said he would be writing a preventing future deaths report to Devon and Cornwall Police.
Mr Cox stressed that he was not saying the police had not taken appropriate steps on this occasion.