A 21-year-old woman was found face down after being mauled to death by a dog she was caring for.
The inquest heard how Keira Ladlow’s lifeless body was found in the lounge of her brother’s home after his Staffordshire bull terrier cross named Gucci attacked her.
The dog was taken in by Ms. Ladlow’s brother Kayden Barrett months earlier before the incident.
Ms. Ladlow, who suffered from emotional unstable personality disorder, was staying at her brother’s home when the dog savaged her.
Mr. Barrett told Birmingham Coroner’s Court that when he came back from work in the afternoon, he found his sister lying face down and Gucci was ‘covering in the corner.’
He reportedly took Gucci home when he discovered that it was being given away after it attacked another dog.
Mr. Barrett told the inquest that Gucci had ‘settled in’ well and had bonded with him and his sister.
The night before Ms. Ladlow died, she told her brother that she feared the dog was going to bite her.
But Mr. Barrett admitted that he dismissed her fears, putting it down to her not taking her medicine.
The next day, he went to work with Gucci still sleeping in bed next to his sister.
But when he returned at 2 pm, he found his sister’s ‘lifeless body’ on the floor and ‘covered in blood.’
“I panicked and did not know what to do,” Mr. Barrett said in a statement. “I’ve always protected her. I feel responsible even though there was nothing I could have done that day.”
He said he immediately contacted the police and told them that the dog had attacked his sister.
Officers took Gucci away from the home and it was put down.
Assistant coroner Rebecca Ollivere said: “Nobody will ever know what caused the tragic shift.”
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