Another young life ends in terror and agony, the victim of a killer dog. If the story of little Alice Stones, four, sounds all too familiar – that’s because it is.
Today the Mirror demands answers to the national complacency around dog attacks. Would there be the same inaction if the young victims were from wealthy families?
Or, in modern Britain, are the lives of some children worth less protection than others?
The mum of Alice Stones has been left devastated after her daughter was mauled to death by the family dog, friends said tonight.
Witnesses told how Louise Stones ran from her house screaming “she’s dead, she’s dead” after seeing Tuesday’s horrific attack on the four-year-old in the back garden of their home.
One neighbour claimed little Alice was killed by a pitbull-husky cross which the family got from a rescue centre just six weeks ago.
A friend of Louise said: “She is beyond heartbroken. Her world has fallen apart. Alice was everything to her.”
A resident told how she heard Alice’s harrowing screams as she was being attacked in Milton Keynes, Bucks. She said: “They’ll stay with me for ever.
“It was a nightmare. I’m heartbroken. They will haunt me.”
Louise was last night being comforted by her mum Karen Hallewell, 56.
A family member said: “We’re just trying to come to terms with what has happened. It’s horrendous.” Armed police who rushed to the scene shot the dog. Officers were last night still trying to determine its breed.
Locals and family friends, many in tears, arrived at only child Alice’s home yesterday to lay floral tributes. Around 100 people held a candlelit vigil last night at a nearby church. One local said Alice was a “lovely girl” and added: “I don’t think I ever saw them with a dog.”
Neighbour Rita Matthews, 36, would walk to school with Alice and Louise.
She said: “She was always holding her mummy’s hand. She was a happy little girl.” Supt Marc Tarbit described Alice’s death as a “tragic, isolated incident” and said no arrests had been made.
The Mirror has been campaigning for changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act in the wake of a string of fatalities, amid claims little is being done to stop them.
Labour MP for Caerphilly Wayne David last night backed our call.
He said: “There needs to be a rethink of the legislation. It is extremely worrying there’s yet another death.”
A Defra spokesperson said "This is a tragic incident, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family involved.
"Dog attacks can have horrific consequences which is why it is a criminal offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act to allow any dog to be dangerously out of control.
"We are unable to comment on this case further as it is subject to police investigation."
Last October we revealed there were 7,790 dog attacks from January to July in 2020 and 9,834 for the same period in 2022, a 26% increase. Since fatal dog attack figures started to be recorded in 2013 there have never been more than five a year but last year 10 people died.
Alice became this year’s second fatality after Natasha Johnston, 28, was killed by several dogs she was walking in Caterham, Surrey, on January 12.
Comment by Jason Beattie, Head of Politics
The words are all too familiar. The death of Alice Stones was “heartbreaking” and “tragic”.
The community in Milton Keynes is “devastated” at the loss of a “happy girl.” Politicians and the police offer their condolences.
We have heard all these sentiments since four-year- old Alice was mauled to death by a dog on Tuesday.
And we heard them when Jack Lis, 10, was killed by a dog in November 2021 and when Daniel John Twigg, three, died in May last year.
What we never hear is a promise by those in power to end this needless loss.
The Government knows the Dangerous Dogs Act is no fit for purpose, yet they still refuse to act.
Imagine if Alice had been born into a wealthy Surrey family. Or Jack was from Chelsea, not Caerphilly.
Then consider how ministers would react.
