KEY POINTS:
Police are investigating whether a dog that mauled 5-year-old Ellie Lawrenson to death was scared into attacking her by New Year's Eve fireworks.
Ellie Lawrenson was found bleeding to death in the living room of her grandmother's home in St Helens, Merseyside.
Ellie's parents had left her there while they went out to celebrate the new year.
They returned to collect her after a few hours but Ellie asked to remain with her grandmother overnight, so at 3.40am they left together for their home, in Warrington, Cheshire.
At 4.20am her grandmother, Jackie Simpson, 46, heard the child screaming.
Mrs Simpson wrestled the dog, Ruben, from her granddaughter, suffering bites to her arms and legs as she dragged it into a run outside her home.
She was in hospital last night with serious injuries.
Mrs Simpson called an ambulance and police officers arrived 10 minutes later.
It is not clear whether Ellie was asleep when the dog pounced and police have not disclosed what injuries she suffered.
"The paramedics did what they could but Ellie died at the scene," said Superintendent Jon Ward of Merseyside Police.
Police concluded that the dog could not be safely removed and it was shot by a trained marksman.
It is believed it was owned by Ellie's uncle, Keele Simpson.
Neighbours said Mr Simpson, known locally as "Binger", has owned a number of dogs, including Alsatians and rottweilers.
Although police have never been called to the property before, local opinions vary about the conduct of Mr Simpson's dogs .
One man, whose four children often played with Ellie, said a previous larger dog had been a problem in the neighbourhood.
But another neighbour, Phil Davies, 20, said: "The dog was as soft as a puppy.
I can only think that the noise, the flashes and bangs, from the fireworks have triggered the attack."
The tragedy comes three months after a five-month-old baby was mauled to death by rottweilers above a pub in Leicester.
Ryan O'Meara, editor of the dog magazine K9, has called for a change in the law.
"I would like to see something like the theory test for driving.
To be able to own a dog, you would have to show that you are committed and know about dogs," he said.
Ellie's 24-year-old mother and her partner were too distraught to speak to police officers yesterday.
But neighbours spoke affectionately about Ellie, who had recently started at Tower College, a Christian independent school.
Dorothy Watkinson said: "I've seen her at the gateway with [the dog which killed her], stroking it. It never turned on her like that."
- INDEPENDENT
