Guilty plea over Rowley Regis dog attack which killed Lucille Downer

Lucille Downer suffered a fatal neck wound after the American bulldogs went into her garden

A man has pleaded guilty to being in charge of two dangerously out of control dogs which killed an 85-year-old woman.

Lucille Downer was fatally attacked by the American bulldogs after they got into her garden in Rowley Regis in the West Midlands in 2021.

Darren Pritchard, of Merrivale Road, Smethwick, admitted an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

He will be sentenced on 15 May.

The 44-year-old also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply and producing the drug at an address on the street where Mrs Downer was pronounced dead after suffering a neck wound.

Darren Pritchard pleaded guilty to an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act at Wolverhampton Crown Court

Pritchard was granted bail by Judge Michael Chambers who told him he would receive credit for his guilty pleas.

"But they are clearly serious matters which cross the custodial threshold so you should be under no illusion as to the likely sentence," he added.

The dogs got into Mrs Downer's garden in Boundary Avenue through a hole in a fence on 2 April.

West Midlands Police said neighbours rushed to help the retired cook, but she died from "multiple" injuries.

Flowers were placed outside Mrs Downer's home after her death

Her family said she was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who had been born in Jamaica and arrived in the UK in her early 20s.

"Since arriving in the UK, Rowley Regis has always been her home and her family will miss her dearly," they said in a statement at the time.

The dogs, which were not a banned breed in the UK, were "humanely destroyed" as they could not be rehomed.

The facts of the case were not opened by prosecutor Howard Searle during the court hearing, which was told Pritchard had been "out of trouble since 2013" at the time of Mrs Downer's death.