A terrified pensioner who popped round to her neighbour to pay for some cat litter 'thought she would die' after being set upon by a vicious dog. Jacqueline McGrew, 75, states that her scalp was ripped down to the skull in the horrifying incident, which occurred on June 15.
The OAP also suffered a broken jaw and a dislocated nose in the ordeal, which happened in Blackburn. She said: “I thought I was finished. I thought I’d had it. It was a bloodbath. I was covered in blood. I was a real mess.
“I could feel the dog biting my head, biting down to my skull. Then it got my nose. I was screaming with the pain. I must have tried to get the dog off me because it also bit my arm", Lancs Live reports.
She has since had her nose reconstructed and an operation on her head following the attack. The owners had lived next door to Jacqueline for 33 years. Jacqueline had popped over to pay for some cat litter her neighbour David Gorton bought for her.
Karen O'Brian, 57, was at home with her dogs when she heard a noise from her garden. As Jacqueline was taken to hospital, two of the family's three dogs were seized by police.
The family has said that they are now fighting for the second pup, Nala, to be returned home as they insist she is 'innocent'. But Karen said she was 'heartbroken' about what had happened to her friend.
Jacqueline said: “I didn’t know the dog was out. I wouldn’t have gone into the garden if I had. I was just closing the gate when it pounced on me. David must have heard me screaming because he rushed out and dived on it, pinning it to the floor.”
She was taken to hospital by a paramedic who lived nearby. A warning sign on the owner’s gate said “Beware of dogs”.
But Jacqueline, who has been in the Royal Blackburn hospital for seven days since the attack, said: “It’s all right to have warning signs up but the dog needs to be chained up. I am an animal lover but with this dog I would have to say put it down.
“There is no way that I can think of this dog roaming around. The doctors told me it would take a year for the injuries in my head to heal.”
Jacqueline, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2012 for her community work, said: “I definitely support the campaign. This can’t keep happening. It could have been a child.”
Police said the investigation is continuing.
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