THE mauling death of an 11-month-old girl comes after a spate of similar attacks involving out-of-control dogs in recent years.

  •  In November last year, four-year-old Lexi Branson was mauled to death by a pet dog despite her mother's desperate attempts to halt the attack. Lexi, described by family friends as a "happy and sweet" girl, died at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre after being attacked at a flat in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire. It later emerged that the dog had been a stray until a couple of months earlier.

 

  • In June 2013, a five-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being mauled by a dogin Co Antrim, Ireland. The attack happened at Carniny Primary School on the outskirts of Ballymena. The boy was taken to hospital in Belfast where his condition was described as serious. It was later confirmed that the dog was being shown to schoolchildren as a last-day-of-term treat.

 

  •  Last May, Clifford Clarke, 79, was killed in a dog attack in his garden in Liverpool. The retired hospital porter suffered fatal injuries after being mauled by a bull mastiff cross which was reported to have found a way into Mr Clarke's garden from a neighbouring house. The dogs was shot dead by armed officers and two women from the area, aged 27 and 28, were arrested and bailed on suspicion of manslaughter.

 

  • Two months earlier, Jade Anderson, 14, was mauled to death by four dogs while visiting her friend near Wigan. The girl was discovered by armed police at a friend's house in Chaucer Grove, Atherton, amid a pack of aggressive dogs. The animals, who were not on the list of breeds banned by the Dangerous Dogs Act, were put down after the incident. The owner of the animals, mother-of-one Beverley Concannon, 45, was given a suspended 16-week sentence for animal cruelty at Wigan Magistrates' Court last month.

 

  • In November 2012, 71-year-old Gloria Knowles died after being attacked by a pack of dogs that she had gone to feed. The great-grandmother was found dead with multiple injuries at a house with five dogs in Morden, south London. Police said the animals - two Bordeaux bulldogs, two American bulldogs and a mongrel - were not banned breeds. Mrs Knowles is believed to have been feeding the pet dogs belonging to her daughter when she was mauled.

 

  • In March 2011, Jude Keir, nine, suffered severe head injuries when he was mauled by a dog outside his school in Scotland. The young boy needed 40 stitches and is said to have only survived because two people dragged the dog off him. The attack by a Staffordshire bull terrier occurred at Woodhead Primary School in Hamilton.

 

  • In November 2009, four-year-old John-Paul Massey died after suffering multiple injuries when he was savaged by the family pet at his grandmother's home in November 2009. The animal, named Uno, was an illegal pitbull-type dog belonging to his uncle, Christian Foulkes, who was jailed four four months after he admitted to owning the animal. John-Paul's grandmother, Helen Foulkes, admitted keeping a dangerous dog and was given a four-month jail term, suspended for 18 months.