A mother whose nine-year-old son was mauled to death by a dog while she took cocaine and partied with the animal’s owner in a nearby caravan was jailed for two years today.
Frankie Macritchie died after he was attacked by a 45kg American bulldog Staffordshire cross owned by Sadie Totterdell, 29, in April last year.
Truro Crown Court heard the boy had been left alone at a caravan in the Tencreek Holiday Park in Looe, Cornwall, with the dog named Winston, while his mother took cocaine at the nearby party.
Frankie’s mother Tawney Willis, 31, and Totterdell, along with other friends, were drinking and listening to music in a separate caravan at the time of the attack.
The court heard Frankie bled to death after sustaining 54 injuries, with the most serious to his head and neck, during the attack in the early hours.
When Willis returned to the caravan in the early hours of the morning, a holidaymaker nearby heard her crying out ‘my baby, my baby’.
Frankie’s mother Tawney Willis (pictured outside Truro Crown Court), 31, and Sadie Totterdell, along with other friends, were drinking and listening to music in a separate caravan at the time of the attack
Sadie Totterdell arrives at Truro Crown court for sentencing in relation to the death of Frankie MacRitchie. Totterdell was sentenced to three years and banned from keeping dogs for ten years
She admitted a charge of child neglect and was jailed for two years.
Judge Simon Carr jailed Totterdell for three years, describing leaving Frankie alone with the ‘extremely powerful’ dog as ‘the height of folly’.
After the incident Winston, who had previously bitten another child, was seized by police and destroyed.
Sentencing Totterdell, Judge Linford said: ‘Winston was an extremely powerful and potentially dangerous dog. The decision was taken to leave Winston and Frankie in that caravan alone.
‘I accept that Winston had been mostly a happy dog, but his size and strength must have been obvious to everybody. There had been incidents in the past that reinforce any dog can be dangerous.
‘Some time before this event, he had bitten another child. The child was injured enough to require medical treatment.
‘To leave a dog with a nine-year-old child was the height of folly. We will never know what happened in that caravan, if Frankie did something to upset the dog or if the dog got angry for other reasons.’
Totterdell, who was represented by Ali Rafferty, was also banned from keeping dogs for ten years.
Frankie Macritchie died after he was attacked by a 45kg American bulldog Staffordshire cross owned by Sadie Totterdell, 29, in April last year
Campaigners hold a ‘Justice for Frankie’ banner outside Truro Crown Court today
Dog owner Sadie Totterdell, who has been jailed for three years after her American bulldog cross killed Frankie Macritchie
The judge said that Frankie had been a ‘delightful young boy – loving, happy, joyous, and loved by those around him’.
The court heard that on the night of the incident, Willis had been checking on Frankie, who was in a separate caravan, and discovered him dead and Winston covered in blood at about 4.30am.
Judge Carr said: ‘You placed the dog and the nine-year-old child in the confined environment of a caravan and returned to the party in the caravan nearby.
‘The scene you found I know will haunt you for the rest of your life and you have developed PTSD as a result of what you saw and experienced.’
The judge described Willis’ actions of leaving Frankie with the dog as ‘grossly negligent’.
In a statement read outside court, Frankie MacRitchie’s family described him as a ‘special young boy’ who had a heart condition and should not have been left alone.
‘As Frankie’s family, nothing will ever be enough, no sentence will ever be long enough,’ his aunt Danielle MacRitchie said
The judge said that Frankie had been a ‘delightful young boy – loving, happy, joyous, and loved by those around him’
‘As Frankie’s family, nothing will ever be enough, no sentence will ever be long enough,’ his aunt Danielle MacRitchie said.
‘Not today, not tomorrow, not ever will we as a family forgive them for leaving our boy in a caravan with a dog he hardly knew.
‘Frankie was left alone to die in the most horrific way, beyond anyone’s imagination.’
The court had heard that earlier on the day of the incident Frankie was seen blowing in the dog’s nose, which ‘it did not like’.
Both Willis and Totterdell had been at a party in a caravan on the site where guests were taking drugs – including Willis, who took cocaine.
Judge Lindford told Willis: ‘Obviously no one anticipated what happened, but that risk was there. The fact that his grandparents were in a caravan nearby makes it even sadder.’
A postmortem revealed that Frankie had 54 bites, mainly on his face, neck, and chest. A portion of his scalp tissue had been torn off and one of his ears was hanging on by a thread.
There was also a huge 15cm by 14cm wound on the boy’s head, and evidence that he had tried to defend himself.
The police were called and Totterdell made her escape back to Plymouth, Devon, by train. She was later arrested by officers from Devon and Cornwall police, when Totterdell said: ‘Is he OK? It’s my fault, it was my dog.’