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| Blackburn dog attack: Mother of 11-month-old Ava Jayne Marie Corless mauled to death arrested | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The mother of 11-month-old Ava Jayne Marie Corless, who died after being mauled to death by an “American pitbull-type” dog in Blackburn, Lancashire, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and child neglect. | |
| Ava was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital from a residence in Emily Street at 11pm yesterday, where she later died. | Ava was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital from a residence in Emily Street at 11pm yesterday, where she later died. |
| The girl's mother has been named locally as Chloe King and the man in custody, her current partner, was named as Lee Wright, who is not the father of the child. | |
| Chief Superintendent Chris Bithell of Lancashire Police said both the mother and her partner were initially arrested on suspicion of child neglect, before being re-arrested this morning on the more serious charge of manslaughter and will be questioned by detectives today. | |
| “The lady in custody is the baby's mother and the male in custody is the mother's current boyfriend,” he said. | |
| “The baby was upstairs in a bed in one of the front bedrooms and the two people who are currently in custody, they were downstairs when the attack took place.” | |
| A post mortem will take place to find out the exact cause of death. Police have not confirmed the names of those arrested. | |
| Asked about claims from neighbours reporting dangerous dogs at the address Mr Bithell said: “As part of the investigation we are making inquiries to see whether there have been previous issues with this particular dog and I think at this moment it would be too early to speculate on that.” | |
| Ava’s father, Dean Corless, said he was “absolutely devastated” over his daughter’s death. | |
| “She was the most beautiful and adorable little girl, she was just the best”, he told The Mirror. She was my whole world. | |
| “Her mum and I aren't together anymore, but I saw Ava-Jayne all the time - I only saw her at the weekend. | |
| ”But I will miss her every single day, I just don't know what to do now. It is just so tragic. I have my family around me now, but we are all devastated.“ | |
| A female neighbour described the child as “a lovely little girl, always smiling, always happy”. | |
| The dog has been seized from the address by Lancashire Police and destroyed. Mr Bithell added: ”Tests will be carried out today to establish the exact breed of the dog and inquiries into the history of the animal. | |
| “I'm told its quite a large pit bull type dog.” | |
| Detective Superintendent Simon Giles said: “This is a tragic incident and specially trained officers are offering support to the wider family. | Detective Superintendent Simon Giles said: “This is a tragic incident and specially trained officers are offering support to the wider family. |
| ”A full investigation is under way.“ | |
| No-one else has been injured in the attack. Officers are continuing to carry out enquiries at the scene. | No-one else has been injured in the attack. Officers are continuing to carry out enquiries at the scene. |
| Additional reporting by Press Association |