A young woman was mauled to death by a dog that “bit her arm off” as she lay in bed, according to neighbours.
The woman, named locally as Keira Ladlow from Birmingham in the UK, was alone in the home when she was brutally attacked by the dog, which is believed to be owned by a family member and lived at the address.
Locals heard the girl scream and shout for help and the dog barking “incredibly loud”.
Her body was found by a distraught relative.
Police and paramedics rushed to the terraced home in Kitts Green, Birmingham, at around 2pm on Friday.
Keira, aged in her 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene by the emergency services.
‘HEARTBREAKING’
The rescue dog, believed to be a bull mastiff, will now be put down.
“The poor girl was heard by neighbours screaming and shouting for help,” a source said.
“The screams were extremely loud. They could also hear a dog in the house barking incredibly loud. It was constant.
“The girl was very badly injured. It was horrific. It’s heartbreaking. Her family are totally devastated.”
Abeygail Barrett, believed to be a relative, wrote on Facebook: “Her previous dog was a pit bull that died of cancer so she rescued this dog after finding it in a garden where it had been on and off for four years.
“Sometimes dogs are rescued with all good intentions but their past can make them tragically unpredictable.”
“When the police and ambulances came we were told to come outside because something had happened, then heard a young woman had died,” one neighbour said.
“I saw the dog being taken away and, as far as I can tell, it looked fine.
“I’d never seen it before and I heard from a neighbour it was only walked at certain times. She used to pull her own dog away from it because she thought it was violent.
“I saw on the news it was a Staffie, but it looked more like a Bull Mastiff.”
“It was a rescue dog, that’s it,” one distraught family member told The Sun.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said: “No one else was in the property at the time, and the woman’s family has signed the dog, believed to be a Staffordshire cross, over to police. It will be humanely put to sleep.
“The death is being treated as a tragic incident, but with no suspicious circumstances.
“A file will be prepared for the coroner in due course.”
