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A pensioner could have been killed if it wasn't for the actions of hero workmen who saved her from a 'monster' dog's frenzied attack, her partner has claimed.

Mary Rollinson, 73, was mauled by a huge pitbull which jumped from the bushes and dragged her into a pond "like a lion attacking an antelope".

It took five men to fend off the ferocious animal, which ripped off part of the elderly woman's arm, part of her finger, and mauled her face.

One of her rescuers was bitten himself as he rushed to Ms Rollinson's aid.

The retired cleaner has now spoken about her ordeal for the first time.

(Image: Â© Glen Minikin)

(Image: © Nick Kemp / Glen Minikin)

She was walking in woods near her home in Yeadon, Leeds, in August when the huge American pit bull cross suddenly ambushed her.

It rampaged through the undergrowth and clamped its jaws around her right arm.

The back of her arm was ripped from shoulder to elbow in the dog's savage attack.

As she tried to fight the beast off, it seized her middle left finger and bit off the top.

Her partner, retired trucker Trevor Cornwell, 71, said she would have been killed if the group of five workmen on a nearby industrial site hadn't heard her terrified screams.

She has spent the last six weeks since the August 27 attack in Leeds General Infirmary and has undergone multiple skin grafts to injuries that will never fully heal.

Mum-of-one Mary was so traumatised by the attack that she has been left with no memory of what happened to her.

(Image: © Glen Minikin)

(Image: Â© Glen Minikin)

She said: "I saw it out of the corner of my eye and apart from that I can't remember anything. The hospital told me it was the body's self defence mechanism kicking in because of the trauma.

"I can't thank the men who saved me enough for what they did, they were very brave."

Trevor said: "I had been doing some gardening at home and Mary decided to go off for a walk around the woods and this thing came at her through the bushes and brought her to the ground.

"It dragged her off the path and into a pond and I'm sure that if those guys hadn't heard her screams it would have killed her, it was completely berserk.

"The injuries it caused are horrific, not like anything I have ever seen from a dog attack.

(Image: © Glen Minikin)

(Image: © Glen Minikin)

"One of the men who saved her caught it on video as he held it at bay with a stick and it was massive, just solid muscle and very very aggressive, she never stood a chance.

"It took off a large part of the back of her right arm. The surgeons have done their best with skin grafts, some were successful; and other weren't.

"But the agony she has been through and trauma of that will always stay with her, I'm just doing my best to look after her, it's a miracle she's still here.

"We're dog owners ourselves, we have a black labrador, but it's beyond me why anyone would want to keep a dog like that, it was an absolute monster.

"It took five men to beat the thing off her, all five of them, and if they hadn't it would have been an even more terrible outcome."

(Image: Â© Glen Minikin)

(Image: © Glen Minikin)

The modest heroes who saved Mary's life declined to be named, but one of them said: "I have never seen injuries like that from a dog attack. I can only liken it to a lion pulling an antelope about, it really was horrific.

"There were five of us in the end trying to hit the dog off with sticks but it wasn't moving at all.

"It was my colleague in the end who decided a better way rather than hitting it was to put the stick in front of it to try to get it to take the stick."

His colleague said: "I got the biggest stick I could and tried to push it away. The dog took hold of the end of the stick and it allowed my colleagues to pull her out."

Leeds Live reported in August how the brave group of men who rushed to the screaming woman's aid were horrified by the scene they discovered.

Ross Thackray told the site: "All you could hear from here was screaming, and it sounded like a woman was being attacked."

(Image: Â© Glen Minikin)

He said one of his group was bitten as the men went to help the attack victim.

"She had lacerations. It had gone right down to the bone on her arm, as I looked at her right arm.

She was bleeding from her face."

Another rescuer, Nick, who did not want his full name used, said: "She was in a bad way, it took us quite a while to get the dog off her. I managed to get her away, the other guys were then trying to defend themselves against the dog.

“It chased one of our guys then came back when he managed to get over a fence - it came back towards us and we managed to force it into a narrow section and it stayed there until the owner came. The police arrived shortly after that.”

West Yorkshire Police were called to Engine Fields in August following the serious attack.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of dangerous dog offences and the dog was seized.

He was released without charge under investigation.

A police spokeswoman said the investigation remains active and ongoing.