Gran killed in dog attack may have been breaking up fight

Ann Dunn, pictured at a birthday celebration, worked for Liverpool John Moores University

A grandmother killed in a dog attack was likely to have been trying to break up two American bulldogs fighting when one turned on her, an inquest has heard.

Ann Dunn, 65, was found collapsed with "catastrophic injuries" in the Liverpool home she shared with seven dogs on 3 October.

Senior coroner Andre Rebello told the hearing at Liverpool's Gerard Majella Courthouse he did not consider her death an accident or misadventure.

He recorded a narrative verdict.

The senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral said: "She was looking after family dogs at her home. More likely than not she separated two dogs from fighting, securing one in the kitchen.

"The other dog has then attacked her, causing severe, fatal injuries."

Mrs Dunn, who worked as a domestic assistant at Liverpool John Moores University, had been due to collect her grandchild from school in the afternoon and when she did not arrive family members went to her home in St Brigid's Crescent, Kirkdale.

Mr Rebello said: "They've looked through the letterbox and saw Ann lying in the hallway, unresponsive."

The inquest, attended by Mrs Dunn's siblings, heard she was pronounced dead by paramedics at about 16:30 GMT.

A coroner at Liverpool's Gerard Majella Courthouse said he did not consider the death an accident

Reading police reports, Mr Rebello said there were five adult American bulldogs that belonged to Mrs Dunn's son, Stephen, living in the house, as well as a Jack Russell-crossbreed and a 10-week-old Labrador.

The court heard Mr Dunn said the dogs had not been violent towards humans before, although about eight months before his mother's death two of the adult males, Cairo and Bronx, began fighting with each other and he was injured while trying to separate them.

At 13:20 on the day of her death, Mrs Dunn phoned her son and said she was going to let Bronx out of the bedroom, where he had been kept because he had been crying.

He advised her to keep the dog separate from Cairo so the two dogs did not fight, the inquest heard.

Mr Dunn was arrested after his mother's death on suspicion of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control.

When interviewed he provided a prepared statement in which he denied breeding dogs or having a website advertising dog breeding.

He said all dogs were chipped and registered but refused to provide chip details, the inquest was told.

He agreed to sign over the five adult bull-breeds to police and the dogs were euthanised, Mr Rebello said.

The inquest was told following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service no further action was taken.

A post-mortem recorded Mrs Dunn's cause of death as multiple dog bite injuries.

Mr Rebello said: "These are very, very powerful animals and the amount of damage caused to Ann is so significant I can't even begin to describe it in court.

"Hopefully people will be aware that dogs of this size are probably not best kept in this number in a domestic setting."

He said it was not against the law, but "not everything has to be against the law to be unwise".

Following her death, Mrs Dunn's family described her as a "one in a million mum".

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