Baby died from head and neck injuries, inquest hears

Assistant Coroner for Lincolnshire Paul Cooper today opened the inquest into the death of Kyra Leanne King during a short hearing at the Myle Cross Centre in Lincoln.

The inquest heard evidence from Coroner’s Officer Jackie Foxlow who confirmed that East Midlands Ambulance Service were called to Ostler’s Plantation, a wooded area near Woodhall Spa, Lincs, at 23.13pm on March 6.

The Coroner’s Officer confirmed the full name of the deceased as Kyra Leanne King who was born in December 2021 and recorded the location of death as Ostler’s Plantation.

A preliminary postmortem carried out by Forensic Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton at Leicester Royal Infirmary recorded the provisional cause of death as head and neck injuries.

The inquest opening also heard evidence from temporary Detective Inspector Cally Murray, who is investigating the death for Lincolnshire Police and is based at Boston Police Station.

DI Murray told the hearing it remained a live investigation and enquiries into the circumstances are continuing while two people remain under investigation.

The officer said the child died after sustaining injuries from a dog attack but added that investigators were keeping an open mind.

DI Murray confirmed that Lincolnshire Police would be seeking a destruction order against the dog once active proceedings are completed.

When asked by the assistant coroner about the current location of the dog, DI Murray replied: “The dog is still seized. It is still in kennels.”

The hearing was told the baby’s family expressly asked Lincolnshire Police not to make her name public and asked not to be approached by any members of the media.

Assistant Coroner Cooper adjourned the inquest to a date to be fixed and said it could take some months for enquiries to be completed.

He also gave a warning against social media commentary on the case.

Assistant Coroner Cooper said: “This is a sad case. There is a grieving family out there.

“Any social media comments could be hurtful.”

The breed of dog involved in the incident, which happened in the car park area of Ostler’s Plantation, was not disclosed during the hearing.

But Lincolnshire Police have previously said they believed it to be a Husky.

Officers launched an investigation into the death and previously arrested a 40-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man on suspicion of being in charge of a dog which was out of control.

They were later released under investigation.

Lincolnshire Police Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox previously said: “This is an exceptionally sad incident, and one that we know will impact the local community, or indeed anyone hearing about it.

“There may be a temptation to speculate about what happened while people attempt to understand this tragedy, and we’d ask people to avoid doing so, particularly on social media where facts can become distorted.

“We will do everything we can to establish what has happened, and we’d like to thank everyone for their support.”