Mum mauled to death by dog may have had seizure before pet severed her throat

Kelly Reilly loved her canine “like a baby” earlier it caused “severe injuries” to her caput and pharynx connected July 22 successful her maisonette successful Wexford Road successful Wood End, Coventry Coroner’s Court heard

A mum who was mauled to death by her favored canine whitethorn person had a seizure which triggered the harrowing attack, an inquest has heard.

Kelly Reilly, 33, loved her canine “like a baby” earlier it caused “severe injuries” to her caput and pharynx connected July 22 successful her maisonette successful Wexford Road successful Wood End, Coventry Coroner’s Court heard. Coroner Delroy Henry concluded the decease was an mishap connected Tuesday aft proceeding that Ms Reilly often suffered with fits “out of the blue” which caused her to illness “with nary recollection oregon control”.

Mr Henry told the court: “On the equilibrium of probabilities, successful the discourse of having sustained a seizure which precipitated the fall, present connected the floor, Kelly was successful adjacent proximity to the dog which caused injuries from which yet she was incapable to recover.”

A connection from a constabulary serviceman who attended the country said that the dog, an American bulldog called Mendoza, had “blood astir its face” aft the attack. Ms Reilly’s sister, Kirsty Reilly, told the coroner that the dog, which Ms Reilly had adopted arsenic a puppy successful 2022, had ne'er shown assertive behaviour before.

She said: “She loved it virtually similar a baby. She was a beauteous canine and if Kelly did not emotion her arsenic overmuch arsenic she did I would person had her. She was truly nice. She would slumber with Kelly successful her bedroom.”

Ms Reilly’s sister added that she had suffered 2 seizures wrong six oregon 7 weeks earlier she died, and 1 of those lasted 8 minutes. Consultant pathologist Dr Hesham El-Daly, who performed a post-mortem examination, said Ms Reilly sustained bruising to her caput from the autumn and suffered “significant” injuries accordant with a canine bite, including a severed throat.

He added: “An epileptic seizure and a autumn could person triggered the canine into specified antithetic behaviour, but this is simply a substance of speculation.” Dr El-Daly agreed that Ms Reilly did not prolong immoderate antiaircraft injuries, meaning the onslaught was either “quick and ferocious” oregon she was “not successful power of her body”, which is simply a diagnostic of epilepsy.

Mr Delroy said: “We person heard that 1 diagnostic of her seizure behaviour is for a fig of minutes she does not cognize what she’s doing but she’s moving her assemblage uncontrollably.

“From an expert’s constituent of view, that does signifier portion of medically wherefore she died. Epilepsy was contributing but not instantly causative of her death.”

The tribunal was told that a advisor neurologist who treated Ms Reilly said determination were “no evident triggers” to her seizures. Following the canine bite, Ms Reilly went into cardiac apprehension and was pronounced dormant astatine the country astatine 1.04pm aft 40 minutes of CPR by paramedics.

West Midlands Police confirmed that the canine was humanely destroyed soon after. Mr Delroy told the household who attended the inquest: “Certainly Kelly had a fall, that does not look ambiguous. We cognize by discourse what could beryllium causative of that autumn – epilepsy.

“Tragedy comes on done unintended actions with wholly unintended consequences, and successful my caput that’s what happened with Kelly here. I person seen earlier maine a beardown household demonstrating a spot by attending this inquest and the spot to perceive to the evidence. I americium definite that Kelly would beryllium truly arrogant of you.”

Ms Reilly’s sister described her arsenic a “fun and bubbly” idiosyncratic during the inquest who spent a batch of clip astatine location with her dog.