Women questioned in connection with fatal dog attack in UK

Two local women were being questioned on suspicion of manslaughter, Merseyside Police said.

Officers were called shortly after 8.30pm and found Mr Clarke lying on the ground with the animal nearby.

An armed unit was called in to shoot the dog.

A friend of Mr Clifford suggested he could have been attacked because the dog could smell the food he was cooking for his dinner.

Susan Carson told the Daily Mirror that she had spoken to him minutes before the incident.

She said: “He rang me to say he was up and about and was cooking a lamb shank for his dinner.

“He said it was hot in the kitchen with the oven and the sunshine and that he’d opened the back door to let the steam out.

“I can only think the dog might have gone for him because it sniffed the lamb cooking. He had been complaining to me about the dogs only the day before and said he was going to make a report to the police about the nuisance.”

The two women, aged 27 and 28, were initially arrested after the attack on suspicion of an offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act, 1991.

But they were rearrested yesterday for the more serious offence of manslaughter.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said a post-mortem examination revealed Mr Clarke died from “multiple injuries consistent with a dog attack”.

“His next of kin and a family member have both now been informed of his death and family liaison officers have been appointed to provide support and updates regarding the police investigation,” he said.

The breed of the dog has yet to be established.

In March a 14-year-old girl died after she was attacked by a pack of dogs at a house in Greater Manchester.

Jade Anderson was savaged by up to five dogs at a house she was visiting in Chaucer Grove, Atherton near Wigan.

The animals were shot by police.