A four-year-old girl who was killed in a dog attack in Milton Keynes has been described as a “very happy child” by a neighbour.
Police were called to a house in the Netherfield area of the city on Tuesday evening, after the child was attacked by a dog in the back garden.
She died at the scene and the dog was humanely destroyed, Thames Valley police said.
Floral tributes were left outside the end-of-terrace house on Wednesday, which remained taped off with a forensic tent in the garden.
Nobody else was hurt in the attack and the child’s family is being supported by specially trained officers, police said. No arrests have been made.
Rita Matthews, 36, a neighbour, said she would see the girl while she was walking her daughter to school.
“I know the girl. It’s so sad to hear that news,” she said. “She was always holding her mummy’s hand on the way back. It’s so sad we’re not going to see the girl again and I pray all the best to her mum to get her strength back.”
She went on to describe the youngster as a “happy little girl, very happy”.
“She would say, ‘Bye, auntie’, and I would say, ‘Bye, little girl’,” she said. “You know kids, playing around.”
The police superintendent, Matt Bullivant, said the dog was humanely destroyed “in order to ensure public safety” after the girl’s death.
“I understand how much of an impact this will have on the community and on the wider public, and people can expect to see a large police presence in the area while our investigation continues,” he said.
“I would like to reassure people that there is no reason to believe there is any danger to the wider public at this time.”
He asked people to respect the privacy of the family involved, adding: “It is impossible to imagine what they must be going through at the moment.”
Donna Fuller, a ward councillor for Woughton, said the area was a “tight-knit community, predominantly families” and there was a “sense of shock” about what happened.
She said a vigil would be held at Grand Union Vineyard church, Netherfield Campus, opposite the family’s home, at 7pm on Wednesday to “enable the community to come together and draw strength from each other”.
“It will send a strong message to the family that we are thinking of them,” she added.
