Dog Attack: Girl Was Killed By 'Stray' Bulldog

Four-year-old Lexi Branson was mauled to death by her pet bulldog, police have said, and the animal died after being stabbed to death by her mother.

Lexi died on Tuesday after the attack in her lounge in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire.

The bulldog, called Mulan, was a stray found by council dog wardens in a park several months earlier.

Mulan had been with the family for just two months, after they picked him up from the Willow Rehoming Centre in Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire.

The history of the dog - believed to be six to eight years old - is currently part of the police investigation.

Police said the animal - not a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act - was fatally knifed during attempts to save Lexi.

The girl's family have described her as a "shining star in the sky" who will "never be forgotten".

A statement from Lexi's mother Jodie Hudson, and grandmother Kerry Hudson, said: "There's been a tragedy in the family. Lexi was a bubbly, bright little girl.

"She fought for her life from the moment she was born as she was born three months prematurely, she's been taken from us so tragically.

"She will be sadly missed, she will be our shining star in the sky and she will never be forgotten."

Police were called to Lexi's home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Mountsorrel, a village between Leicester and Loughborough, just after noon on Tuesday.

She was taken from the flat to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham where doctors were unable to save her.

Detective Superintendent David Sandall told Sky News that the girl was unwell and had stayed home from school on the day of the attack.

Lexi's death is not being treated as a criminal investigation.

Neighbours have described the four-year-old as a friendly girl who played outside her home and was often seen with quite a large dog.

She lived in a flat with her mother and they had been there for about a year, neighbours added.

Arthur Nash, who lives in Rowena Court, said: "Everybody is in shock at the moment with Lexi dying.

"When I saw an ambulance pull up I thought it was an old lady on the court who had had a heart attack, and then the neighbour came up and said she had been killed by the dog. We're in shock."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "I always say hello when I pass, and the little girl used to play outside - she used to say hello when she was playing. It is just such a shock, such a sad shock."

Glennis Goddard, who has lived in the road for 27 years, said: "She was very happy, everything was fun - as it is when you're a four-year-old.

"You've only got to look at her and she'd got a big smile on her face."

David Williams, headteacher of Christchurch and St Peter's Church of England Primary School in Mountsorrel, where Lexi had recently started, also paid tribute to the youngster.

He said: "The whole of our school community has been devastated and saddened by the news of Lexi's death.

Animal behaviour consultant Jennifer Dobson said the history and temperament of rescue dogs can sometimes be unknown.

She told Sky News: "Sometimes dogs are rescued and picked up as a stray - there's no history - and a kennel environment is not always the same as it behaves in the home."

Seventeen people have now been killed by dogs in the UK since 2005.

The four people to die in the last 12 months include eight-day-old Harry Harper - attacked by a Jack Russell, and Clifford Clarke, 79, believed to have been attacked by a bull mastiff cross breed.

Despite many attacks being carried out by legal dogs, a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said there were no plans to change the list of banned breeds.