A baby boy was killed and his toddler brother seriously injured when they were savaged by a dog in their home.
The children’s mother was also hurt as she desperately fought to stop the attack by the animal, believed to be the family pet. Both boys were taken to hospital but doctors were unable to save the youngest, who was four months old.
His 22-month-old brother is said to have suffered “life-changing” injuries during the attack in Colchester on Thursday afternoon. He is being treated in a “specialist unit”. Essex Police said officers were called to the property shortly after 3pm.
The dog involved, said to be a Staffordshire bull terrier, was removed by police and later put down with the consent of the owner.
Onlookers say up to six police cars, including a dog unit vehicle, were called to the scene with paramedics.
The child’s mother was treated for minor injuries in hospital.
One neighbour said he saw a young boy being tended as he sat in an ambulance. The man added: “His face was covered in blood. It was shocking to see. He was in a bad way, the poor little lad.”
Another said: “Nobody knows the family really, as they’ve only been here a little while. There’s a young girl living there who I have often seen with a baby and young child. A gentleman lives there too.”
Neighbour Dave Thompson said police backed into the drive to “recover the animal”, which he described as a dark brown “Staffordshire bull breed”. He went on: “It was alive and not aggressive when they brought it out of the house and put it in the back of the van. It was quite big — a cross breed, I think.”
Another neighbour told of seeing the couple walking the dog in the area.
He said: “We rarely saw them. They kept themselves to themselves. They had a nice party on the weekend after the August bank holiday. They had a dog — some sort of Staffy, a pitbull cross. I only saw it twice. They didn’t walk it around here very often.”
The £300,000 house is owned by IT company boss John Ferdinand, 36, but is rented out. He declined to comment yesterday.
Neighbour John Williams, who lives opposite the property, praised the quick reaction of the emergency services in getting there so quickly.
He said: “The road has had lots of events in the past but it’s always a worry when you see the police and ambulances and do not know what is happening.
“You just feel for the people there, the family going through it and also for the officers with some of the things that they see.”
Chief inspector Elliot Judge said: “This is a tragic incident that Essex Police is investigating. Specially trained officers are providing support to the family at this difficult time.”
It is the second occasion in less than two months that a child has been killed in a dog attack in Essex.
Victim Dexter Neal, three, died after he was savaged by a dog in August at a friend’s home in Halstead.
Detectives later confirmed that the dog responsible was an American bulldog, a breed not on the government’s dangerous dogs list.