Devastated gran reveals how mum-of-two was mauled to death by bully XL dog that ‘turned mad and snapped’

A DEVASTATED gran told today how her daughter was savaged to death by her dog after he "turned mad and snapped".

Mum-of-two Joanne Robinson, 43, is understood to have been pinned down by the jaws of her Bully XL Rocco at home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

The ferocious hound seized her around the throat after Joanne had come home from a night out visiting a pal.

Her frantic boyfriend Jamie Stead - known as “Steady” - desperately tried to fight off the beast.

He was mauled courageously trying to save his partner and has undergone skin grafting for potentially life-changing injuries.

Joanne's heartbrokem mum, Dotty Robinson, told The Sun: “I am in total disbelief and shock.

"I just hope it was quick and that she didn’t suffer too much.”

She added: “I want everyone to know how well loved she was. She was born and bred in this village. They all know her and love her.”

Dotty told how Rocco - who was nearly two and his two-year-old mate, Bully XL Lola - were both destroyed this morning.

The gran-of-nine told how her daughter and partner had had the dogs since puppies.

She said: “They were good dogs, they are not a banned breed and were not dangerous. They were not related but they got on well together. I don’t know why they suddenly snapped.

“Rocco’s a big dog, he’s bigger than a lion.”

Her tearful granddaughter added: “He was like a small horse.”

Dotty, a mum of three who lives nearby, said: “They [the dogs] were no trouble.

“It must have been the heat. There’s a saying about mad dogs going out in the midday sun.”

A warning sign on the front wall states: “Beware of dog.”

Today stunned friends and neighbours continued to place tributes and pay respects at the home where “kind and caring” Joanne was savaged to death on Friday night.

A sea of cards, flowers and balloons adorned the home where the couple have lived for twenty years - including a poignant one from Joanne’s grown-up children Elle, 24, and Dillon, 19, saying: “Mum I love and miss you.”

Dotty, reliving the horror, told how her daughter has been to visit a friend and had walked back into the house at about 10pm.

She explained: “She was downstairs and suddenly Rocco attacked her, it got her, I think it was around the throat.

“Lola was going mad, she was trying to be protective and Steady, Joanne’s partner but we call him her husband, tried to save her.

“He was trying to get Lola out of the room, he had no choice but to get her out and during that time Rocco attacked.”

She was downstairs and suddenly Rocco attacked her, it got her, I think it was around the throat.

Joanne's mother - Dotty Robinson

Neighbours had told how they had heard piercing screams coming from the top of the road.

Dottie continued: “I’m hoping it was quick. I can’t bear to think of her suffering. I think she was grabbed around the throat but we haven’t had the results of the post-mortem yet. They are due today.

“There’s rumours and gossip going around that Joanne was attacked while she was in bed asleep. That is all rubbish.

“Rocco carried out the attack not Lola but both dogs were seized by police.”

DOGS PUT DOWN

She told how the animals had been humanly put down today, saying: “They have both been destroyed. Police told Steady and he agreed Lola should go too because of what happened.”

Jamie, 42, who runs a company making blinds, suffered injuries to his face, both arms, his stomach and has undergone skin grafting.

Dotty said: “He’s hoping to come home from hospital today but he is still in much pain.

“He knows Joanna has gone and is absolutely devastated as we all are. We will miss her so much.

“He’s had a horrible ordeal. He’s lost his partner of 20 years and his dogs.”

Jamie’s distraught mum, who had joined Dotty and other mourners outside the house, said she was too upset to speak out.

Emergency crews raced to the scene but it was sadly too late to save her and she was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Dottie said the couple’s two children were “bearing up as best as could be.”

TERRIFYING TREND

It comes as animal welfare experts have blamed the UK’s dog mauling epidemic on lockdown “impulse buys” – as the rise in killer cases has more than doubled.

RSPCA dog specialists believe the increase in Brits buying puppies in the last two years could have caused the high rates of fatal dog attacks.

Reports from the  show there has been a 54 per cent increase in dog attacks from 2020 to 2021.

The warnings come after a three-year-old was mauled to death by an out-of-control dog in May.

The month before, a two-year-old boy died following an attack by a dog in Worcester, and an eight-year-old boy was rushed to hospital after being bitten on the face in Cannock.

The Office for National Statistics figures show that in the decade up to 1991, 15 people were killed by dogs - but in the past ten years that has more than doubled to 32.