Man jailed after dog attack which killed Lucille Downer

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

A man has been jailed after admitting being in charge of two out-of-control dogs which killed an 85-year-old woman.

The American bulldogs mauled and killed Lucille Downer after they got into her garden in Rowley Regis, in the West Midlands, in 2021.

Darren Pritchard, 44, of Merrivale Road, Smethwick, admitted an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act at an earlier hearing.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, he was sentenced to nearly five years.

The judge said Mrs Downer, who lived with dementia, had been the victim of a "dreadful and sustained attack".

"She was entitled to feel protected in her own garden, but the dogs forced their way through the fence and mauled her. You left them free to roam," Judge Michael Chambers KC told Pritchard.

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

The court heard Mrs Downer suffered fatal neck injuries when she was attacked by the dogs on the afternoon of 2 April.

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

Neighbours had previously witnessed Pritchard hitting one of the dogs "repeatedly" on one occasion and "goading" one of the animals while it was on a rope leash on another, prosecutor Howard Searle told the court.

Defending Pritchard, Morgan Pirone said the defendant was remorseful for what had happened.

"On April 2 2021, his actions destroyed the Downer family. Nothing can repair the damage he has done," he said.

"He knew Mrs Downer for seven years. He cannot forget or forgive himself for what happened," he told the court.

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

Judge Chambers told the court the dogs had escaped into another neighbour's garden "only a matter of weeks previously".

"What occurred was entirely foreseeable," he said.

"Lucille Downer was an 85-year-old lady who lived a much-respected and long life," he added.

"For anyone to die in such circumstances is truly tragic, but, suffering from dementia, she must have found this most shocking and upsetting."

Pritchard was jailed for 45 months for the offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

He had also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis with intent to supply and producing the drug, and was handed a 12-month sentence to run consecutively.

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