A man will appear in court today after being charged with manslaughter over the death of another man bitten by a German Shepherd on a footpath.
Lee Ellis, 55, was also charged with being the owner or person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death.
West Yorkshire Police were called to an altercation on the old railway line footpath off Blacker Lane in the Calder Grove area of Wakefield on Saturday afternoon.
A 55-year-old man was bitten by the dog during the incident and later died in hospital. The dog was seized by officers and continues to be held in police kennels.
Keen horse rider Ellis, a father-of-two who is separated from his wife and lives on Blacker Lane, was remanded in custody to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court today.
Detectives said they had identified and spoken to two other people who stopped to help the injured man at the scene following the incident at about 1.30pm.
The force added that the family of the man – who died in hospital shortly after 7pm on Saturday – were being supported today by specially trained officers.
Ellis bought his agricultural property for £5,000 in 2002 and renovated it with his ex-wife. The former couple renovated the house themselves, building in stables.
Lee Ellis, 55, has been charged with manslaughter and will appear in court today
Police attend the scene of the dog attack in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on Saturday afternoon
The area near the old train line footpath off Blacker Lane in the Calder Grove area of Wakefield
He is a keen farrier and frequently posts videos showing him taking care of horse hooves. The pair were often seen riding their horses in the area by neighbours.
Ellis shares two children with his wife but the couple separated earlier this year. A number of signs warning of guard dogs decorate the outside of Ellis’s house.
One neighbour told the Daily Mail his son was ‘scared to walk past the house’ because the dogs would ‘always bark so loudly’. Another said: ‘Whenever you walked past you would always hear the dogs barking loudly’.
One dog walker said: ‘We don’t normally get any trouble here. It’s very quiet. The path where it happened is a well-trodden route, there’s a lot of dog walkers. I just feel so sorry for the man who died.’
