my man saved our dog
but at what cost?
Claire Josling, 37, Huddersfield
Tapping away on my mobile, I was bursting with pride. It was November 2013, and my fave footie team, Huddersfield Town, had just won a match.
Amazing! I typed on the club’s Twitter page.
Not bad, wrote fellow supporter Dave Ellam, 47.
Dave was a no-nonsense Northerner from Huddersfield, while I lived down south in Dartford, Kent.
He had a dry sense of humour, loved a good moan.
We were both obsessed with football, and had been chatting online for months.
Despite the 15-year age gap, we had loads in common. Loved the same music – The Beatles, UB40, Madness.
So in March 2014, when Dave invited me to an away match near London, I jumped at the chance.
Dave loved kids, didn’t stop talking about his nieces and nephews.
After that first match, we regularly met to watch our team play.
Then, in January 2015, I had a confession to make…
‘I’m in love with you,’ I blurted out.
‘Me too!’ Dave beamed back.
Within weeks, I took a new job in a care home near Dave and moved in with him. I even brought along my little Jack Russell rescue dog Milo, 14. I’d always had dogs in my life, ever since I was a girl. Dave loved dogs, too, had a black Labrador as a kid. ‘Dave, you’re spoiling him rotten!’ I’d scold, as Milo gobbled down chicken Dave slipped him under the table. When Milo died of old age in February 2016, we were devastated. ‘The flat feels so empty,’ I said. A week later, Dave drove me to a breeder, where we picked out a gorgeous 8-weekold Lhasa apso. Rollo was adorable, had so much energy! He licked our faces, ran around the garden we shared with three other flats. Only, I couldn’t help but worry about one neighbour, Aaron Joseph, 28, who had a mongrel bull terrier, Alex. Snarling and jumping up, Alex was aggressive. We made sure he wasn’t around when we let Rollo out. But in May 2016, Aaron started keeping Alex in a handmade wooden pen in the garden. A metal chain wrapped around the dog’s neck. ‘I’m worried he’ll escape,’ frowned Dave as we saw him tug at the chain.
There was a play park for kids round the corner.
Weeks later, we were about to go shopping when a mate of Aaron’s called out of the window.
‘Don’t go out!’ he cried. ‘The dog’s escaped.’ I shuddered, ducking inside. ‘How dangerous is this dog?’ I fretted.
Later, Dave complained to the dog warden at the council. They took Alex away. But that August, we saw Alex back in his pen, chained up in the garden.
A week later, I kissed Dave goodbye and headed to work.
He was off from his job as a lollipop man because of the school holidays. But then the police called... Dave had suffered a cardiac arrest and been rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
My boss drove me straight there. And what I discovered left me sobbing.
A heart attack would have been bad enough. The truth was far worse.
A police officer explained that, an hour after I left, Dave had gone into the garden in his shorts and a pair of shoes to let Rollo out. But Alex had slipped his chain and started attacking Rollo.
Dave intervened, desperate
We worried he’d escape, saw him tugging at his chain
to prise Alex away from our beloved pet. But the vicious mutt turned on him instead.
Neighbours later told me how they heard Dave screaming. They saw the dog dragging him to the floor, biting his arms and legs.
Someone had grabbed a hose, tried to soak the dog to scare him off.
But the animal tore Dave to pieces in front of their eyes.
The onslaught started at 9.30am, went on for 10 minutes until the police arrived and used a fire extinguisher to get the dog off. Rollo survived. ‘Dave’s lost a lot of blood,’ a doctor explained. He was in a critical condition. I was in shock as I was taken to Dave’s bedside in Intensive Care.
He was covered from head to foot in bandages. Unconscious, wires and tubes snaking in and out.
I kissed him on the forehead as nurses took him down to theatre. ‘I love you,’ I sobbed. Surgeons worked for 11 hours trying to repair his severely damaged arteries.
I waited with Dave’s family, including two brothers, his nieces and nephews. Then a doctor came in. ‘I’m sorry, but I think you need to say goodbye,’ he said. ‘Please, no!’ I wept. We were led to the theatre, where Dave lay unconscious.
I held his hand while the rest of the family gathered round.
At 8.50pm, Dave passed away. He was only 52. ‘I’m going to miss you so much,’ I cried. Dave had a stent in his heart, and he was diabetic. But a post-mortem concluded that anyone would have died after that attack. The whole top of his left arm had been ripped off. He had horrific injuries to both his legs. Hundreds attended his funeral at Huddersfield Crematorium in October 2016. We played football-terrace songs. The school where Dave had been a lollipop man bought a bench in his memory. Aaron’s dog was put down in December 2016 due to illness. In February 2018 at Leeds Crown Court, Aaron Joseph, 30, pleaded not guilty to owning a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death.
The court heard Joseph had ignored a court order to neuter, muzzle and micro-chip Alex years earlier. He was found guilty, sentenced to 10 years in jail, and banned from owning a dog for life.
The judge blamed the fatal attack on Joseph’s ‘arrogant and stubborn disregard for the welfare and safety of others in the community’.
He hit the nail on the head.
It was Dave’s dream to see his beloved Huddersfield get into the Premier League, and now they’ve done it.
But because of Joseph’s disregard for those around him, Dave was killed before his dream came true. It would have made him so proud!
Now, I still live in the same flat with our Rollo. It’s thanks to Dave he’s still alive.
He was a true hero.
Dave was killed before his dream came true