A drug dealer has been jailed for more than four years after admitting owning two dangerous dogs which savaged a pensioner to death in her own home. Darren Pritchard, 44, faced a court after his pair of American bulldogs attacked 85-year-old Lucille Downer in April 2021.
The pensioner was viciously mauled to death by the out-of-control dogs, which burst into her garden and clung to her neck "like they would a toy". A family member rushed to her aid, but nothing could be done to save the great-grandmother at her home on Boundary Avenue, Rowley Regis, West Midlands.
Pritchard, of Smethwick, previously pleaded guilty to an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act. He admitted owning two ‘dangerously out of control dogs' and also producing and possessing cannabis with intent to supply. On Tuesday he was jailed for 57 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
