A 'gorgeous' gran was mauled to death by a pack of American bulldogs as she got ready to pick her grandson up from school, shocked neighbours have said.
Ann Dunn, 65, was found dead at her home in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool after the school alerted the family that the young boy had not been picked up, according to friends.
Neighbours also reported hearing a woman's screams at around 4pm on Monday. The mum-of-two is now the ninth person in the UK to be mauled to death this year.
Merseyside Police confirmed that five American bulldogs, which were inside the property on St Brigids Crescent, were seized by officers and humanely destroyed. Cops also arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of owning a dog dangerously out of control. He's now been bailed as investigations continue, reports The Mirror.
In an update on Wednesday, the force said: "We can confirm a woman who died following reports of a fatal dog attack at a house in Kirkdale has been formally identified as 65 year-old Ann Dunn. A post mortem examination will be carried out to establish the cause of death and an investigation into the incident at the house in St Brigid’s Crescent on the afternoon on Monday 3rd October remains ongoing.
"A 31-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of owning a dog dangerously out of control has been released on conditional bail."
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said Ann, who worked as a cleaner, was the 'loveliest person'. She said: "She was lovely, really funny, such a happy girl. She had not long ago been on holiday with her daughter.
"She was meant to be picking up her grandson from school and it was only when the school got in touch with his mum to say (he) was still there and no one had come for him that they realised something was wrong. She had gone in to put her bags down and the dogs attacked her, she tried to shut the door but she fell.
"When I found out I was so upset. I couldn't sleep that night, I was laid awake thinking about what state she must have been in when they found her. It's awful and so sad. I used to see her walking to work, no matter the weather, come rain or shine she’d always walk down and never missed a day.”
Neighbours said the family had been breeding dogs, including XL Bullys, 'for years'.
Another resident who paid tribute to the grandmother of one said she never failed to say 'hello' and added: "She always used to stop and chat and she was always smiling. She was a lovely woman. The first thing I saw was a load of people gathered at the end of the crescent talking to each other on the phone.
"Then all the police turned up with the fire engines. When I found out it was Ann who had been attacked I was in shock. I couldn't believe it." She said she’d lived in the area for 38 years and had started to see more and more 'vicious and nasty looking dogs'.
Data released by NHS England in May showed that two areas of Merseyside fell into the top five areas with the highest incidences of dog attacks. Another young woman who lives close by to the scene said she had seen an explosion in the number of Bully type breeds in the area in the last three years.
She said: "There’s a lot of breeders in the area, it's very common, everyone is breeding dogs now. Even in the last three years or so there's been a big increase in the number of Bully type dogs in the area and they are scary to be fair.
"You just know they shouldn’t be bred in back gardens, even on Instagram there’s loads of kennels popping up."
Liverpool John Moores University meanwhile, where Ann worked as a cleaner at their Scotland Road campus, also paid tribute to her.
A spokesman for the university said: “The university community is absolutely shocked and devastated by this tragic loss and to lose Ann in this way is just heart-breaking. Ann was hard-working and dedicated and had so many friends across the organisation. It’s just awful and she will be terribly missed. Our thoughts at this time are with her family and loved-ones."
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