Dog bite caused death of Telford baby Harry Harper
An inquest into the death of a newborn baby who died after being bitten a family pet dog in Telford has returned a verdict of accidental death.
Harry Harper died after the family’s pet Jack Russell called PJ, jumped into its cot and caused a ‘significant head injury’ to the 8-day-old.
At just before 8am on Tuesday 20 November 2012, police and paramedics were called to the family home in Woodside Road, Ketley. Baby Harry was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford by paramedics but died shortly after arriving.
The inquest in Wellington heard evidence from first police officer on the scene, and investigating officer Detective Inspector Phil Shakesheff.
A verdict of accidental death due to a severe head injury caused by a dog bite was recorded by Andrew Barkley, Assistant Deputy Coroner for Telford & Wrekin.
Speaking after the inquest Detective Inspector Phil Shakesheff read out a statement from the family:
"As a family we remain absolutely devastated by Harry's death.
“Although he was only with us for eight days, he had brought enormous happiness to us all and his loss is a tragedy we will carry with us forever.
“We will treasure every single moment we enjoyed with him and we will never forget the joy he gave us when he arrived.
"We would like to thank everyone for the kind messages we have been sent and the sympathy we have been shown, but once again we would request that we are left alone to continue to deal with our loss.
“We have no wish to speak publicly about Harry’s death at the present time and we would ask that our request for continued privacy is respected.”
