Drug dealer, 44, whose two American bulldogs mauled a great-grandmother, 85, to death after escaping from his garden through a hole in the fence is jailed for nearly five years

• Darren Pritchard, 44, pleaded guilty to offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act
• Also admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and producing drug 

A drug dealer has been jailed for five years after his two killer American bulldogs mauled an elderly woman to death in her own garden. 

Lucille Downer, 85, died after two crazed dogs burst into her garden through a hole in the fence during the horror attack in Boundary Avenue in Rowley Regis, the West Midlands in April 2021.

The ‘much-respected’ great-grandmother, who had dementia, was killed by the out-of-control hounds which clung to her neck ‘like they would a toy’.

Darren Pritchard, who lived next door to Mrs Downer, has today been jailed after pleading guilty to owning the bulldogs, possessing cannabis with intent to supply and growing the drug at his home. 

Sentencing the 44-year-old, Judge Michael Chambers KC said Mrs Downer was the victim of a ‘dreadful and sustained attack’.

Darren Pritchard arrives at Wolverhampton Crown Court where he was sentenced to five years in prison after his two American bulldogs mauled his next door neighbour to death

Lucille Downer, 85, a retired cook, was savagely attacked in her garden. She was pronounced dead at the scene on April 2, 2021

Forensics teams outside the home in Rowley Regis where Mrs Downer died in April 2021

He said: ‘Only a matter of weeks previously, the dogs had escaped into another neighbour’s garden. What occurred was entirely foreseeable. Lucille Downer was an 85-year-old lady who lived a much-respected and long life.

‘For anyone to die in such circumstances is truly tragic, but, suffering from dementia, she must have found this most shocking and upsetting.

‘She was entitled to feel protected in her own garden, but the dogs forced their way through the fence and mauled her. You left them free to roam.

‘No-one was able to get near them until you returned home and intervened. It is a measure of their ferocity and the injuries were dreadful.’

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Pritchard’s next-door neighbour suffered fatal injuries to her neck when she was savaged by the dogs, which are legal to own in the UK. 

Howard Searle, prosecuting, told the court Pritchard was at work when the animals got into Mrs Downer’s garden through a hole in the fence and started ‘mauling’ her, leaving her with deep wounds to her left leg and the left side of her neck.

Neighbours reported hearing screaming and thought Mrs Downer may have fallen so, along with the pensioner’s daughter who lived nearby and cared for her mother, went to her house, where they found one of the dogs attacking her.

Mr Searle said: ‘One of the dogs held her by the neck and dragged her from side to side. The dog was mauling and pulling Mrs Downer. The other dog had blood around its mouth, suggesting a joint attack.’

Police at the scene in April 2021 on Boundary Avenue in Rowley Regis, near Birmingham 

Flowers and tributes outside the home in Rowley Regis where Mrs Downer died in April 2021

The neighbours and Mrs Downer’s daughter had to retreat inside the house and block the door with a wheelie bin, while a neighbour tried to distract the animals with dog biscuits.

The court also heard paramedics could not help Mrs Downer until Pritchard himself returned home and got the dogs away from her.

Retired cook Lucille tragically couldn’t be saved and was declared dead at the scene after suffering ‘multiple’ injuries. A post-mortem gave her cause of death as a neck injury caused by a dog bite.

When Pritchard was arrested and his house searched, police discovered bags of cannabis with an estimated street value of just under £20,000, as well as 10 to 12 cannabis plants in the loft and around £35,000 in bundles of cash.

Neighbours had previously witnessed Pritchard hitting one of the dogs ‘repeatedly’ on one occasion, and ‘goading’ one of the animals while it was on a rope leash on another, Mr Searle told the court.

Another neighbour reportedly informed the RSPCA after seeing the dogs left outside in the cold.

During a police interview, Pritchard said he kept the dogs in the house and did not muzzle them because he did not think they were aggressive. He accepted the dogs had escaped into neighbouring gardens before.

Defending Pritchard, Morgan Pirone said the drug dealer was ‘under no illusions’ that he would be going to prison and was remorseful for what had happened.

He said: ‘On April 2 2021, his actions destroyed the Downer family. Nothing can repair the damage he has done. He knew Mrs Downer for seven years. He cannot forget or forgive himself for what happened.’

Pritchard was jailed for 45 months for the offence under the Dangerous Dogs Act and for 12 months for drug offences, to run consecutively.

He was ordered to serve half of the sentence in prison and the second half on licence.

West Midlands Police have previously said the dogs were humanely destroyed after the incident.

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