A four-year-old girl has tragically died after being mauled by a dog in the back garden of her home, Thames Valley Police have confirmed.
Emergency services were called to the property in Broadlands, Netherfield, Milton Keynes, where the dog was “humanely” destroyed by armed officers at the scene. No one else was hurt in the attack and the family of the child—named locally as Alice Stones—has since been supported by specially trained officers, police said.
Neighbour and mother of four Rita Matthews, 36, told The Independent: “I always saw the little girl on the way to school with her mum because she is the same age as my daughter. I heard screams of the little girl coming from the garden but I didn’t know what was going on. Lots of police cars turned up and we were all told to stay inside. I then saw on Facebook what had happened and was shocked.”
While no arrests have been made, a second resident described the animal as a “big brown dog” that the family got a few weeks back but had “only seen it at the house.”
Last week, around 100 people turned out to a vigil that had been organised at Grand Union Vineyard Church, Netherfield Campus, across the road from the house.
Among the floral tributes left to the youngster, one of them read: “Alice!! Fly high with the angel’s little one. The whole community will miss your smile. Our thoughts are with the whole family, especially her mum.”
Speaking more about the incident, Thames Valley Police said: “Although we are not in a position to confirm the exact breed of the dog due to the requirement for further testing, we are able to confirm that the dog is not a banned breed. We’d also reiterate our ask that the privacy of Alice’s family is respected at this extremely difficult time.”
