A woman who was mauled to death by her pet dog may have suffered an epileptic seizure which triggered the attack, an inquest has heard.
Kelly Reilly suffered ‘severe injuries’ to her head and throat after being bitten by her American bulldog at her maisonette in Wexford Road in Wood End on July 22.
A statement from a police officer who attended the scene said that the dog, called Mendoza, had ‘blood around its face’ after the attack. West Midlands Police confirmed that the dog was humanely destroyed shortly after.
Ms Reilly’s sister, Kirsty Reilly, said the 33-year-old had loved Mendoza ‘like a baby’ and, having adopted the dog as a puppy in 2022, it had never shown aggressive behaviour before.
She told Coventry Coroner’s Court: ‘She loved it literally like a baby. She was a lovely dog and if Kelly did not love her as much as she did I would have had her.
‘She was really nice. She would sleep with Kelly in her bedroom.’
Coroner Delroy Henry concluded Ms Reilly’s death was an accident after hearing she often suffered with fits ‘out of the blue’ which caused her to collapse ‘with no recollection or control’ before she was mauled by her dog.
Ms Reilly’s sister added that she had suffered two seizures within six or seven weeks before she died, and one of those lasted eight minutes.
Kelly Reilly, 33, suffered ‘severe injuries’ to her head and throat after being bitten by her American bulldog at her maisonette in Wexford Road in Wood End on July 22
Police stand guard behind a cordon at the scene on Wexford Road where Ms Reilly was savaged by her family pet dog
Mr Henry told the court: ‘On the balance of probabilities, in the context of having sustained a seizure which precipitated the fall, now on the floor, Kelly was in close proximity to the dog which caused injuries from which ultimately she was unable to recover.’
He added: ‘An epileptic seizure and a fall could have triggered the dog into such unusual behaviour, but this is a matter of speculation.’
Consultant pathologist Dr Hesham El-Daly, who performed a post-mortem examination, said Ms Reilly sustained bruising to her head from the fall and suffered ‘significant’ injuries consistent with a dog bite, including a severed throat.
Dr El-Daly agreed that Ms Reilly did not sustain any defensive injuries, meaning the attack was either ‘quick and ferocious’ or she was ‘not in control of her body’, which is a feature of epilepsy.
Mr Delroy said: ‘We have heard that one feature of her seizure behaviour is for a number of minutes she does not know what she’s doing but she’s moving her body uncontrollably.
‘From an expert’s point of view, that does form part of medically why she died. Epilepsy was contributing but not immediately causative of her death.’
The court was told that a consultant neurologist who treated Ms Reilly said there were ‘no obvious triggers’ to her seizures.
Following the dog bite, Ms Reilly went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the scene at 1.04pm after 40 minutes of CPR by paramedics.
Police at the scene on Wexford Road, Coventry, where Ms Reilly’s body was discovered
Mr Delroy told the family who attended the inquest: ‘Certainly Kelly had a fall, that does not seem ambiguous. We know by context what could be causative of that fall – epilepsy.
‘Tragedy comes along through unintended actions with wholly unintended consequences, and in my mind that’s what happened with Kelly here.
‘I have seen before me a strong family demonstrating a strength by attending this inquest and the strength to listen to the evidence. I am sure that Kelly would be really proud of you.’
Ms Reilly’s sister described her as a ‘fun and bubbly’ person during the inquest who spent a lot of time at home with her dog.