UK

Man mauled to death by dog during interview with BBC crew

Animal attacks its owner during incident at flat in Wood Green in north London

A block of flats in Wood Green, north London, where a man died after he was attacked by his dog. Photograph: Peter Cary/PA Wire

Wed Mar 29 2017 - 12:32

A man has died after being savaged by his dog while being interviewed by a BBC documentary film crew in north London.

The 41-year-old was with a BBC film crew at his home in Wood Green on March 20th when his Staffordshire bull terrier attacked, biting him in the neck.

The film crew called an ambulance shortly before 10.30pm and the man was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead two hours later, the Metropolitan police confirmed.

The film crew has not been identified and the BBC declined to say what the documentary was about. The police said it was “entirely unrelated to the Met’s BBC documentary”. Police had attended the address previously.

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The reporters, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s, were interviewed under caution at a London police station earlier this week, the police said.

The dog was seized and is in secure kennels. Staffordshire bull terriers are not a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

A postmortem carried out last Friday in Haringey gave the cause of death as hypovolemic shock - a condition caused by massive blood loss - and damage to the airway consistent with a dog bite.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “We are aware of an incident but we cannot comment any further as it’s an ongoing investigation.”

A spokesman for the Met said: “A film crew making a documentary were present during the incident and called the London ambulance service.

“They are assisting police with their inquiries as officers prepare a report for the coroner.”

The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

Guardian News and Media

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