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LONDON - A five-year-old girl was mauled to death by a dog at her home near Liverpool yesterday.
The dog, which police described as a "pit-bull terrier type", attacked Ellie Lawrenson and her 46-year-old grandmother in the early hours of the morning at a house in St Helens.
The grandmother, named by police as Jackie Simpson, was seriously injured and is being treated in hospital, but the little girl was fatally wounded in the attack.
A spokeswoman for Merseyside police said dog handlers and armed response officers attended the scene and decided the dog should be destroyed immediately.
"This is such a tragic incident. When a child loses her life in such circumstances, it has an effect on the whole community," police superintendent Jon Ward said in a statement.
A police spokeswoman said Lawrenson did not usually live with her grandmother, but was staying there for New Year's Eve.
Last September, 5-month-old Cadey-Lee Deacon died after she was savaged by her family's two Rottweilers in Leicester.
- REUTERS
