Keira Ladlow killed by dog bought to help her mental health, inquest hears - BBC News
Keira Ladlow's brother got the Staffordshire bull terrier cross to help his sister, an inquest hears.
A woman died after being attacked by a dog her brother bought to improve her mental health, an inquest has heard.

Keira Ladlow was found face down in the lounge of her brother's Birmingham home with Staffordshire bull terrier cross, Gucci, "cowering in the corner".

Her brother Kayden Barrett said he was always happy with the dog's temperament but feels "a terrible sense of guilt".

Birmingham assistant coroner Rebecca Ollivere said Ms Ladlow died in February of multiple injuries.

The 21-year-old had been staying at her brother's home in Sunbeam Way, Kitts Green, due to her unstable mental health, the city's coroner's court heard on Thursday.

She suffered from emotional unstable personality disorder and had been prescribed a type of antidepressant to help with her anxiety, Dr Syed Faisal Haq, said in a written statement.

Mr Barrett rehomed Gucci in October after learning she was being given away because she had previously bitten one of the owner's other dogs.

He said the dog "settled in" well and bonded with him and his sister, who was with her every day due to being furloughed from Ladbrokes.

Keira Ladlow had been staying at her brother's home in Sunbeam Way, Birmingham at the time ofher death

The night before she died, Ms Ladlow told her brother she felt Gucci was going to bite her, but Mr Barrett said he put it down to his sister perhaps not taking her medication and had seen nothing to think that would happen.

He left for work on 5 February with Gucci asleep in bed with his sister, but when he returned home at 14:00 GMT, he found water pouring through the ceiling from the shower and his "lifeless" sister on the floor of the lounge "covered in blood".

"I panicked and did not know what to do," he said.

He called the police to say his dog had attacked and killed his sister, the inquest heard.

PC Sam Ahmed from West Midlands Police said in his statement that neighbours reported hearing a dog barking and a female running up the stairs between 10:00 and 11:00.

Gucci was taken away and humanely destroyed, the hearing was told.

"I've always protected her... I feel responsible even though there was nothing I could have done that day," Mr Barrett added.

Recording a narrative conclusion of Ms Ladlow being attacked by the family dog, Ms Ollivere said "nobody will ever know what caused the tragic shift" in events that day adding it was right the dog was destroyed.

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