'Banned' dog mauled UK baby to death

 
A PIT bull terrier that mauled to death an 11-month-old girl in northern England was a dangerous dog banned under UK law. 
 
Ava-Jayne Marie Corless was asleep in bed at a house in Blackburn, Lancashire, on Monday when she was savaged by the animal.


Police and ambulance staff attempted to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at Royal Blackburn Hospital a short time later.

The girl's mother, Chloe King, 20, and her partner, Lee Wright, 26, are being questioned on suspicion of manslaughter.

Local police said the dog, which was destroyed after the attack, had been identified by experts as a pit bull terrier-type dog which people are prohibited from owning under Section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Ava-Jayne's father paid tribute to his daughter.

"She was the most beautiful and adorable little girl, she was just the best. She was my whole world. Her mum and I aren't together any more, but I saw Ava-Jayne all the time," Dean Corless told the Daily Mirror tabloid.

"I will miss her every single day. I just don't know what to do now. It is so tragic. I have my family around me, but we are all devastated."

The girl's grandmother, Bernadette Corless, added: "It just can't believe it, it's such a shock. She was so young, it is so unfair for a baby to be taken away. She was just beautiful, like a china doll. She was a lively baby and was always happy."

Locals claim to have made previous complaints about the large dog's behaviour to police.
It was reported that the RSPCA had been called to the house after claims that a neighbour's cat had been killed, but the charity concluded it was an accident.

King and Wright were said to be downstairs when the attack took place while Ava-Jayne was in a front bedroom.

The couple were initially arrested on suspicion of child neglect before they were re-arrested on the more serious offence of manslaughter.