Horrified neighbours told yesterday how they heard “hysterical screams”.
But no one took any action – because they thought it was just a child playfully shrieking and teasing the pets.
Widow Gloria Knowles, 71, suffered a fatal heart attack as she was mauled by the five dogs – including two Bordeaux French mastiffs – after going into a back garden to feed them.
She was found by her shocked son-in-law when he returned from work. He called an ambulance, but Gloria was already dead.
Kevin Hamilton, 65, who lives next door, said he heard screams coming from the house at about 5.15pm on Tuesday, but assumed it was Gloria’s young grandson larking about.
He said: “I just didn’t think to do anything about it as I often hear noise from the grandchildren as they wind the dogs up. I heard barking too, but again I thought nothing of it.
“Now I know what happened I feel terrible. But what could I have done? – I am not Superman and those two mastiffs are huge, powerful dogs.
“They always seemed friendly when I saw them being walked. You could pat them and they were always fine with children.”
Gloria, who has two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild lived next door to daughter Beverley in Morden, South London.
Yesterday the blood-spattered patio was clearly visible across the back garden fence as police launched an investigation into the tragedy.
Mr Hamilton said animal-lover Gloria regularly nipped through a gate between the gardens to feed the dogs.
He added: “They’re a close-knit family and it was quite common for her to go round there.
“But no one ever expected anything like this. It is absolutely devastating. Beverley must be beside herself. I’m sure she is feeling terrible.”
Mr Hamilton said police who spoke to him were trying to establish whether Gloria suffered a heart attack before or after the dogs attacked. He said: “I don’t think she can have been on the ground beforehand.
“I heard her screaming so they must have attacked her first then she had the heart attack. Gloria was by no means frail, but if one of these dogs jumped on her there’s no way she would have stood up to that – they would knock most people over.”
He described the dogs as “tall and muscular”.
He added: “They could easily get their paws on your shoulders and drag you down, even if they were just playing around.”
Last night it emerged the pets had killed Beverley’s cat just weeks earlier.
Mr Hamilton said: “It was a white cat that used to sleep curled up next to the two mastiffs. It would get in the basket with the dogs and they would put their paws around it. They all got on.
“Then one day one of the mastiffs got the cat and threw it in the air. It wasn’t biting, just throwing it around. Then all the dogs joined in. It was a pack mentality. The poor cat died from shock. The family was very upset.”
Other neighbours told how Gloria’s husband Vic died a few years ago after a battle with cancer.
Her granddaughter Jasmine-Jade had recently moved in to the property with her partner and their newborn baby.
The family, who were regularly seen walking their pets, own Harringtons pie and mash shop in nearby Tooting.
Staff there were stunned at the news. One said: “She was a lovely lady. It’s a real shock. Beverley runs the shop and has had dogs for years. She takes them to shows and has won rosettes.
“I don’t know what kind of dogs they are, but they are big. I first saw them when they were puppies a couple of years ago, but they are massive now.”
Last night Gloria’s sister Dawn Bennett, from Sittingbourne in Kent, said the family was too upset to comment.
Scotland Yard confirmed that officers had seized five dogs, including a small mongrel and two bulldogs. A spokesman added: “An investigation is under way into establishing the cause of death.”
A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We were called to an address in Morden at 6.12pm to a patient in cardiac arrest. Sadly, she was dead at the scene.”
A postmortem is due to be held today.
The tragedy is the latest in a long line of horrific dog attacks. In 2010 Barbara Williams, 52, was killed by an 8st Belgian mastiff as she opened the gate to the house where she was lodging in Wallington, Surrey.
In January Leslie Trotman, 83, died after being savaged by a pit bull-type pet that broke out of a neighbour’s garden in Brentford, West London.
And in July, 10 people were injured at Hastings, East Sussex, when two crazed bull terriers went on the rampage.
(Daily Record - Oct 31, 2012)
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