Three-Year-Old Boy Dies After Dog Attack In Essex

A three-year-old boy has died after being mauled by a dog in Essex, the second fatal dog attack in Britain in four days.

The incident happened at a property in a residential street in Halstead at 5.40pm on Thursday, with neighbours hearing screaming.

A 29-year-old woman was arrested for allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control and injuring a person, Essex police said. The dog was seized by police and placed in kennels. Police said they had yet to establish its breed.

Two officers were guarding the semi-detached home in Parker Way where the attack happened, as forensic officers examined the property.

The boy was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridgeshire where he died from his injuries, the East of England ambulance service said.

Scott Howell, 19, called the police after hearing “terrible screaming” and seeing a dog covered in blood being dragged from the house.

Photographs from the home showed a toy car speckled with blood.

Speaking to Essex Live, Howell said: “I heard this terrible screaming and thought it was kids playing in the garden, but then I thought this is going on a bit too long.

“I went to my parents’ bedroom window facing the house and that is when I saw the man dragging the dog out. Its face was covered in blood.

“That is when I thought I need to call the police. As I was describing what was happening to the police I saw a woman come out of the house and she was holding a very bloody child in her arms.

“She quickly went back in the house. I could hear the man counting ‘one, two, three, four’ like they were doing CPR.”

Norma Younger said she heard screaming at about 5.45pm. Speaking to the Guardian she said: “I did hear the screaming, otherwise I wouldn’t have known. At the time I didn’t think it was that bad, but afterwards I realised it was. I don’t know the family, I’ve never spoken to them, but they live just across the road a bit further along.”