[url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-687202,00.html[/url]


                              Dog mauls baby to death as
                              'grandma' sleeps
                              From Adam Sage in Holque and David Brown


                              A BRITISH woman has been charged with
                              manslaughter in France after her dog savaged a
                              two-month-old baby to death.

                              The dog attacked the child in his cot after Mary
                              Barton fell asleep while babysitting. French police
                              said that she had been drinking. When she awoke,
                              André Bigg was lying dead on the floor, covered in
                              bite marks. He was buried yesterday.

                              André’s 25-year-old mother, Belinda, moved from
                              Britain to France as a child and had lived with Mrs
                              Barton and her husband in the village of Holque, near
                              Dunkirk, since her parents returned home about ten
                              years ago.

                              The Dunkirk public prosecutor, Jean-Philippe
                              Joubert, said the couple treated her as a daughter.
                              “They regard André as their adopted grandson,” he
                              said. “But last Friday the wife was looking after
                              André when she had too much wine to drink at
                              lunch. She has a background of drink problems and
                              fell into an alcohol-induced stupor.

                              Unfortunately, she was sleeping so deeply that she
                              did not hear the dog. It leapt in the baby’s cradle and
                              savagely mauled André. The wife did not even stir
                              during the attack and only realised what had
                              happened sometime later when she woke up.”

                              Mrs Barton, 48, has now been placed under “formal
                              investigation”, the equivalent of being charged under
                              British law. Her lorry driver husband, Allan, who was
                              in England at the time of the attack, said: “There is
                              nothing we can do. I wish to Christ there was.”

                              Mrs Barton had taken in the Belgian shepherd dog
                              from a rescue centre in Saint-Omer four years ago. It
                              has been placed in kennels and is expected to be
                              destroyed.

                              The police said that she had a second dog, Sam,
                              which did not appear to have taken part in the
                              attack.

                              Belgian shepherds are strong, medium-sized dogs
                              similar in appearance to long-haired German
                              shepherds and are widely used as watchdogs.

                              They are easy to train and are renowned for their
                              loyalty to their owners, but this can make them
                              suspicious around strangers and they become bored
                              and aggressive if kept inside and not given sufficient
                              exercise.