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Colchester dog attack: baby killed and brother left with life-changing injuries | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
A four-month-old boy has died and his 22-month-old brother has been left with “life-changing” injuries after they were mauled by a dog in Colchester. | |
Police were called by paramedics to a detached house on Harwich Road at 3.10pm on Thursday, where the two boys and their mother were found injured. All were taken to hospital, where the four-month-old died from his injuries. | |
The older child was initially treated at Colchester general hospital, before being transferred to a specialist unit elsewhere, according to a tweet by the area’s MP, Will Quince. The woman was treated for minor injuries. | |
The dog has since been put down, police have said. | |
Police and forensic investigators were still at the house on Friday afternoon, and the property’s back garden was taped off. Neighbours said they did not know the family well and that they had only moved in this year. | |
Ellen Double, 87, who lives several doors down, said: “We never knew the people who lived there. I’ve never seen anybody go in there and as for a dog or children, you never see anything except three cars – that’s all I have seen. | |
“So yesterday when I saw the ambulance; first it was just one ambulance and suddenly there were two emergency ambulances and police cars. The whole road was blocked.” | |
Double said she did not see the two children being taken into waiting ambulances, but she saw a woman guided from the house and into the back of one. | |
“The last thing I saw was that a young woman came out with something draped over her head and she went into the ambulance,” she said. “She was the last person to come out. I was standing up at my bedroom window and I couldn’t help watching, but I didn’t know how serious it was. | |
“She was bent down and she had her coat or whatever draped right over her head, so nobody could see her, but she got into the ambulance which then drove away.” | |
Scott Mills, 24, an accountant who lives across the road from the scene, described the light brown dog which was later taken from the house as “like a staffordshire bull terrier, but slightly more built”. | |
“It was more broad, it was like it was a cross-breed,” he said. “It was primarily staffordshire in its looks, but it was a lot broader.” | |
Armed response units were initially on the scene, Mills said, but the dog was taken away by a specialist handler. “It was on a pole lead,” he said. “It was totally calm coming out. There was no blood or anything on it. | |
“It didn’t appear aggressive; it just appeared that it was being put on a lead to go for a walk. It just jumped in the back of the van and the van left.” | |
Ch Insp Elliot Judge said: “This is a tragic incident that Essex police is investigating. Specially trained officers are providing support to the family at this difficult time.“We will not be making any further statement at this time and would ask the media to respect the family’s privacy.” | |
An East of England ambulance service spokesperson said: “We received a call yesterday (13 October) at 3.08pm to reports of a serious incident in Colchester. We dispatched three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, an ambulance officer, and an air ambulance from the Essex and Herts air ambulance trust. At the scene two young children were treated by crews, one for life-threatening injuries, and the other for life-changing injuries. Both were taken to Colchester general hospital via land ambulance in a serious condition.” |