Colchester man dies and brother-in-law to lose legs after dog bites

Mark and Pauline Day before he was bitten by his brother-in-law's dog

A man is facing a double leg amputation due to a bite from a dog that had earlier bitten his brother-in-law, leaving him with a fatal infection.

Barry Harris, 46, from Colchester, died in July after being bitten by a dog he had bought through Facebook.

His brother-in-law, Mark Day, was bitten a month later, on the day of Mr Harris' funeral, and requires surgery.

Pauline Day, his wife, said it was "surreal" that this was happening while they were grieving for her brother.

Mr Harris paid £1,500 for the Japanese Akita dog, named Ted, from a seller he found online.

Barry Harris bought his Japanese Akita dog from a seller on the internet

Ted the Japanese Akita was put down by a vet who said antibiotics would not get rid of the fatal bacteria

Mrs Day, his sister, 62, said the "puppy" seemed older than its described five months and had no proper documentation.

She described Ted as a "big playful doofus of a dog, a teddy bear, who was nervous of everything", but "would snap at you if you went near his food".

Mrs Day said Mr Harris became ill after he was "scratched" on the arm by Ted as he tried to remove a bone from his mouth.

He went to bed with flu-like symptoms but three days later died after a cardiac arrest.

'Legs were blocks of ice'

On the day of his funeral, her husband was walking the dog when he, too, was bitten.

He fell ill that evening, on 19 August, but could not keep warm so "unusually" retired to bed, Mrs Day said.

She said she called for an ambulance after he said he could not feel his legs, "which were like blocks of ice", and she noticed his whole chest "looked like a purple bruise".

By this time his temperature had reached 39C (102F).

Mark Day, pictured with his wife Pauline, has been told he must lose his lower legs as a result of contracting sepsis

Mr Day, 62, was taken to Colchester Hospital, where he spent two weeks in the critical care unit.

Blood results showed he had suffered a serious bacterial infection - which Mrs Day said was thought to be sepsis.

As well as facing the double amputation to his lower legs, Mr Day has also lost all the fingers of one hand and three on the other.

"It's surreal. I haven't really had time to process it all, to grieve for my brother and now my husband faces this," said Mrs Day.

The dog has since been put down.

Mrs Day is urging people to be more aware of the symptoms of sepsis, which the NHS says is hard to spot, and not to buy dogs without the proper paperwork.