St Helens dog attack: Neighbours tell of attempts to save toddler who died of injuries

Neighbours have described attempts to save a 17-month-old girl who was attacked by the family’s new dog at her home in St Helens.

Bella-Rae Birch died in hospital of her injuries following the mauling in Bidston Avenue, Blackbrook, on Monday afternoon.

One resident, who gave her name as Jordan, said: "We pulled up from school and heard screaming. I just ran over to try to help and started CPR until the paramedics took over."

The neighbour, who is due to go to university to train as a paramedic, said the child’s parents were "hysterical".

She added: "I didn’t see the dog, I was just focusing on helping the baby."

Another neighbour who helped to give CPR said: "The parents doted on the children. It’s too upsetting to say anything else."

Neighbour Joanne Matthews, 53, said: "She was such a beautiful little girl, toddling about.

"I’d see the family in passing, just to say hello, and they were always very pleasant."

Ms Matthews said she had seen the ambulance outside the house on Bidston Avenue at about 3.50pm on Monday and then about 10 police cars, including a van, arrive.

She said: "I saw them bring the dog out. I couldn’t tell what breed it was but from the back it looked like a Staffordshire bull terrier or pitbull."

Merseyside Police said the dog, which has been humanely destroyed, had only been with the family a week.

It will be subject to further forensic examinations to determine its breed and whether it is or is not a legal breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act (1991), police said.

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she came home from the shops at about 4.30pm and the area was filled with police.

She said: "My friend gave me a lift and I said to her there’s got to have been a murder.

"The mum was on the field at the front of the house crying, she was hysterical.

"It is usually very quiet here and safe for children, but when you hear something like this has happened it is so distressing."

Superintendent Steve Brizell of Merseyside Police said Bella-Rae “lost her life in the most unimaginably terrible circumstances”.

Adding: “Detailed investigations are continuing into this tragic event.

“We are working to identify all the previous owners of the dog so we can establish its history.”