A dog owner whose pooch attached his 75-year-old next-door neighbour has described the moment he had to prise the pup's teeth from her head.
David Gorton was upstairs in his home when he 'heard a commotion outside' and ran quickly down the stairs, LancsLive reported.
He saw Kia, a cross breed, attacking his 75-year-old neighbour Jacqueline as his two other dogs were "shaking in the corner" when David put his hand in Kia's mouth to try and stop the attack.
David, who has lived next door to Jacqueline for 33 years, suffered injuries himself as a result of stopping the attack but his neighbour suffered a head injury.
He was thankful Kia hadn't bitten her face but paramedics arrived and took the 75-year-old to hospital where she remains today.
David said the incident has left him and his family "heartbroken".
He said: "Jacqueline had come over because she'd asked me to try and find her some biodegradable cat litter so I'd ordered it online and she was bringing the money round.
"I was upstairs and I just heard this strange noise and I thought 'what the hell is that?'.
"It all happened so quick, I heard all the commotion and ran outside and she was on the ground.
"The other two dogs were shaking. I had to shove my hands in the dog's mouth to get her off Jacqueline.
"I'm going up to the hospital later to get a tetanus shot. We feel awful."
David, from Blackburn, alleges that when police officers arrived they told him he had done everything he could to protect members of the public.
Fencing surrounds his garden and there are 'beware of the dog' signs posted around the perimeter.
"Kia is my son Sonny's dog and he's had her since she was a baby," David added. "The police also took Nala, our two-year-old, even though she had nothing to do with it.
"Kia's been seized and tested before after she attacked another dog but they gave her back to us and said she wasn't a Pit Bull so I don't understand why they've said they're believed to be Pit Bull-type breeds.
"Sonny said straight after it happened that he was going to take Kia to the vets to have her put down but we said to wait and let the police deal with it. Nala will be distraught.
"She's such a soft dog and when she's stopped somewhere else overnight she cried at the door the whole night.
"When the police took her she just trotted off with them, she probably thought they were taking her for a walk, and she sat on the front seat of the police van."
Earlier today Lancashire Constabulary released a statement in which Detective Sergeant Peter Davies said: “We can confirm we are investigating a dog attack in Blackburn.
"The woman involved was believed to be a making a delivery to the address when she was attacked. She has suffered significant, life-changing injuries.
"Our thoughts are with her and her family at this time. The dogs involved have been seized and an investigation into the circumstances around the attack is underway."
