A 79-year-old man who died after a dog savaged him in the garden of his home was cooking food when he was set upon, a neighbor said today.

The pensioner, believed to be a retired hospital porter, was outside his home in Clubmoor, Liverpool, when the dog attacked just before 8.40pm last night.

Merseyside Police were called and armed officers destroyed the dog.

Police at the scene removing the dog, that was shot dead by armed police, from the house in Clubmoor

One neighbour told the Liverpool Echo: ‘He was a lovely, sweet old man. He had put a pan of Scouse on and went to his friend’s home.

‘When he went back the kitchen had become smoky so he opened the back door and as he opened the back door the dog was there. He was a lovely fella. It’s so sad.’

Another neighbour said: ‘The first thing we knew was when my daughter and husband heard lots of barking in his garden. A next-door neighbour telephoned the police.’

A resident also told how she was reading in a bedroom when she heard ‘loud screams’.

She said: ‘I heard dogs barking, I thought at first it was dogs having a scrap. But then I could hear a man shouting, he was clearly in pain.’

Police forensics officers at the scene carrying out examinations. Richard Kelly Close is a small cul-de-sac over the road from a public park

The house in Richard Kelly Close, Clubmoor. It is believed he was attacked in his garden

Police said the dog attacked the pensioner in the garden of his home in Clubmoor, Liverpool, just before 8.40pm last night

A post mortem examination will take place this afternoon to establish the cause of death.

Crime Scene Investigators are now carrying out forensic examinations at the scene of the attack, Richard Kelly Close in Clubmoor, a small cul-de-sac over the road from a public park.

Merseyside Police said in a statement, that officers were called to the scene around 8.40pm on Saturday.

Richard Kelly Close, in Clubmoor, is around three miles from Liverpool city centre

‘When they arrived officers found the body of the man and they were confronted by a dog that was out of control,’ the statement said.

‘Armed officers attended at the scene and the dog was destroyed. At this stage the breed of the dog is still to be established.’

‘A post-mortem examination will take place this afternoon to establish the cause of death.

‘House-to-house inquiries are underway and Crime Scene Investigators are carrying out forensic examinations at the scene.

‘Two women, aged 27 and 28 years, from Clubmoor, have been arrested on suspicion of an offence under section 3(3)a, of the Dangerous Dogs Act, 1991.’

That section of the Act relates to an owner or a person in charge of the dog allowing it to enter a private property where it is not permitted to be and the animal then injures a person.

In March a 14-year-old girl died after she was attacked by a pack of dogs at a house in Greater Manchester.

Jade Anderson was savaged by up to five dogs at a house she was visiting in Chaucer Grove, Atherton near Wigan.

The animals were shot by police.

Read more: Daily Mail