Review into baby's death in dog attack finds no single person responsible - despite 'missed opportunities'

A report into the death of a baby girl - who was mauled by the family dog in Northamptonshire - has said no single person was responsible, despite missed opportunities by police.

Molly Mae Wotherspoon was attacked at home in October 2014 by the family dog Bruiser, which was an aggressive Pit bull-type.

She suffered a catalogue of injuries including a fractured skull and bites to all four limbs. She died of blood loss.

Molly Mae’s mother and grandmother were jailed over the attack.

A serious case review into Molly Mae’s death concluded that - despite some areas of “poor practice” - no single professional could have prevented her death.

Three months before Molly Mae’s birth, the RSPCA alerted the police that an aggressive dog had been taken to a local vet.

The review finds that police “failed to carry out any further enquiries into that dog” and its owners.

Had the police visited Molly Mae’s mother, they would have realised she was pregnant and would soon have a baby living there, the report states.

They would then been been able get a magistrates' warrant to remove the dog from the house for an assessment - “potentially a missed opportunity to change the outcome” for Molly Mae - the report continues.

The report identifies a number of other concerns:

• Not enough questions were asked about child's father who was serving prison sentence at time of her death

• More "professional curiosity" should have been demonstrated by health visitors when seeing her at home

• Midwives and health visitors should proactively ask parents about the presence of pets in the home

The report has made a number of recommendations.