A one-year-old boy has died after being attacked by a dog at the home of a relative, West Yorkshire Police said. The dog, a family pet, attacked the boy while he was in the yard of the home in Wakefield yesterday afternoon. The boy suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital but died later in the evening.

Police officers destroyed the dog, a Rottweiler, at the scene.

The attack comes almost a year after 5-year-old Ellie Lawrenson was mauled to death by a family pit-bull terrier at her grandmother's house on January 1. Her uncle Kiel Simpson was jailed for eight weeks for owning a banned breed of dog.

Rottweilers are not banned by the Dangerous Dogs Act, but the legislation covers any dog out of control in a public place.