Tragic baby girl, 7 months, mauled to death by family dog on Father’s Day seen smiling in heartbreaking image
A BABY girl mauled to death by a dog is seen smiling in a heartbreaking image.
Seven-month-old Elle Doherty was rushed to hospital following the horror attack on Sunday afternoon in Coventry, West Midlands.
But she was tragically declared dead after suffering serious head injuries.
Today, police confirmed they were “satisfied” that no criminal offences had been committed.
A spokesperson for the force said: “Elle received treatment at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to hospital for further treatment.
“Tragically, she died a short time later. Our thoughts remain with her family at this devastating time.”
The force said it had updated Elle’s family and a file was being prepared for the coroner.
The spokesperson added: “Our thoughts remain with the family at this tragic time, and they have now asked to be left to grieve in private.”
Neighbours yesterday told how the infant was the family’s only child – describing the loss as “absolutely tragic”.
One said: “It’s horrendous, and on Father’s Day as well.
“They are a lovely couple and this is such a shame. The baby was their first child, and she seemed a sweet girl.
“They seemed very happy, and will be absolutely crushed by this.
“I can’t imagine anything worse. To lose a baby in this way is just heartbreaking.”
Another local added: “I didn’t realise anything had happened until I saw it on the news.
“It’s just awful. This is just a normal, quiet road and you never in a million years would think something like this would happen here.”
No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.
An elderly woman a few doors down from the family home said she’d seen about three police cars and an ambulance at the scene.
She said: “I saw police cars and ambulances at a home up the road.
“There must have been three police cars and two ambulances.
“It’s heartbreaking. Absolutely tragic. Nothing like that should happen to anyone.”
Another neighbour who lives across the street said: “They’re not there, no one has been there for ages, not since Sunday.
“They’ve not come back. I’ve never seen the dog, we didn’t hear anything.
“The ambulances came here first and then went over there, apart from that we didn’t see anything.
“It was a rapid response, two ambulances and then someone sent them over there.”
Another woman said: “I don’t know anything… all we saw were the police cars.
“They had a dog, it was a big one, that’s all I know.
“All I saw were the police cars. There were a few ambulances. It was around 2pm, I think.
“They must be devastated. They really kept themselves to themselves really, quite quiet.”