Cleveland Police death bite dog 'was frustrated'

Irene Collins, 73, died four days after being attacked by a police dog in her garden

A police dog which repeatedly bit a grandmother may have been frustrated after mistaking an officer for a suspect, an inquest has heard.

The German shepherd attacked Irene Collins, 73, after she let police look for an escaped drug dealer in her garden in Middlesbrough, in 2014.

She died four days after the attack.

Jurors heard PC Andrew Jobling stood on an outhouse roof during the search and was spotted by the police dog, which was called Dano.

The inquest heard Nottinghamshire Police Ch Insp Annie Reavley, who carried out an official review of what happened, watched police helicopter footage of the search.

At one point the German shepherd barked at PC Jobling on the roof.

It then moved to the side of the house on Penrith Road, and, unknown to his handler PC Mark Baines, got inside.

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Ch Insp Reavley told the inquest the dog could have mistaken the officer on the roof for the suspect he was tasked to find.

"The only assumption we can come up with is the dog has located PC Jobling and the dog has then at that point become frustrated," she said.

This could have been a "catalyst" to what then happened, she added

Ch Insp Reavley said Dano was "clearly out of control" when he backed out of his chain and escaped from PC Baines to bite Mrs Collins for a third time.

The inquest at Teesside Magistrates' Court also heard Mrs Collins had terminal lung cancer and emphysema and had only a "few weeks or months" to live.

But Home Office pathologist Dr Mark Egan said she would not have died when she did if she had not been bitten.

The inquest continues.