A man has been jailed for almost five years after his dogs killed a great-grandmother in her own back garden.
Lucille Downer was fatally attacked as the two American bulldogs went for her neck after they snuck into her garden through a hole in the fence.
Ms Downer, 85, was enjoying her garden in Rowley Regis, West Midlands, when she was mauled by the two dogs in April 2021 before a family member rushed out to help, but she was fatally injured.
Howard Searle, prosecuting, told the court that Darren Pritchard was at work when the animals got into Mrs Downer’s garden through a hole in the fence and started “mauling” her, leaving her with deep wounds to her left leg and the left side of her neck.
Neighbours reported hearing screaming and thought Mrs Downer may have fallen so, along with the pensioner’s daughter who lived nearby and cared for her mother, went to her house, where they found one of the dogs attacking her.
Mr Searle said: “One of the dogs held her by the neck and dragged her from side to side. The dog was mauling and pulling Mrs Downer. The other dog had blood around its mouth, suggesting a joint attack.”
The neighbours and Mrs Downer’s daughter had to retreat inside the house and block the door with a wheelie bin, while a neighbour tried to distract the animals with dog biscuits.
The court also heard that paramedics could not help Mrs Downer until Pritchard himself returned home and got the dogs away from her.
When Pritchard was arrested and his house searched, police discovered bags of cannabis with an estimated street value of just under £20,000, as well as 10 to 12 cannabis plants in the loft and around £35,000 in bundles of cash.
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, Mr Searle told the court.
Another neighbour reportedly informed the RSPCA after seeing the dogs left outside in the cold.
During a police interview, Pritchard said he kept the dogs in the house and did not muzzle them because he did not think they were aggressive. He accepted that the dogs had escaped into neighbouring gardens before.
Defending Pritchard, Morgan Pirone said the defendant was “under no illusions” that he would be going to prison and was remorseful for what had happened.
He said: “On April 2 2021, his actions destroyed the Downer family. Nothing can repair the damage he has done. He knew Mrs Downer for seven years. He cannot forget or forgive himself for what happened.”
Sentencing Pritchard, who wore black jeans, a black T-shirt and black trainers and carried a holdall into the dock with him, Judge Michael Chambers KC said Mrs Downer was the victim of a “dreadful and sustained attack”.
He said: “Only a matter of weeks previously, the dogs had escaped into another neighbour’s garden. What occurred was entirely foreseeable. Lucille Downer was an 85-year-old lady who lived a much-respected and long life.
“For anyone to die in such circumstances is truly tragic, but, suffering from dementia, she must have found this most shocking and upsetting.
“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.
“No-one was able to get near them until you returned home and intervened. It is a measure of their ferocity and the injuries were dreadful.”
In a heartbreaking statement, at the time of her death, her family said: "Lucille was a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who spent her working years as a cook at Bromford House Care Home in West Bromwich.
"Lucille was born in Jamaica and emigrated to the UK in her early 20s.
"Since arriving in the UK, Rowley Regis has always been her home and her family will miss her dearly."
The dogs have already been destroyed.
Pritchard, 44, admitted an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act, possessing cannabis with intent to supply and producing the drug at an address in the street where Mrs Downer suffered a neck wound and was pronounced dead.
He was jailed for four years and nine months.
He was given 45 months in prison for being the owner of the dogs dangerously out of control, 12 months to run consecutively for possession with intent to supply cannabis.
He was also given 12 months to run concurrently for producing cannabis.
