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Dec 11, 2023

Mum of boy, 10, killed by XL Bully dog hails Mirror poll and slams 'pathetic' jail terms

Emma Whitfield's son Jack Lis was mauled to death by an XL Bully dog - she welcomed a Mirror poll that found 74% of people want those responsible for out-of-control beasts to face tougher prison terms

Emma Whitfield's son Jack Lis was mauled to death by an XL Bully dog - she welcomed a Mirror poll that found 74% of people want those responsible for out-of-control beasts to face tougher prison terms

The mother of a boy killed by an American XL Bully has criticised the “pathetic and insulting” jail terms given to the people in charge of the animal and welcomed our poll calling for tougher sentences.

Our survey found 74% of people want an overhaul of sentencing guidelines so that those responsible for out-of-control dogs face harsher sanctions. And more than 55% of people in the poll said the current laws on dangerous dogs were not fit for purpose.

Emma Whitfield, whose son Jack Lis was mauled to death in November 2021, is backing the Mirror’s call for action on danger dogs and said she hoped the poll would make the Government listen. She said “It’s good to know that a lot of people feel the same way about the sentencing guidelines as we do. That’s almost 75%, a lot of people. It shows that so many of us think the same way – that current sentencing is not tough enough.

“Maybe with these kinds of numbers, the Government will finally see that people do want change. The Government should listen to those people.” Brandon Hayden, 19, the owner of the 7st XL Bully, named Beast, which killed Jack, fled the scene of the attack.

He got just over four years at a young offender institution, while Amy Salter, 29, who had allowed the dog to stay at her home, was jailed for three years. They pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog.

Emma, from Caerphilly, near Cardiff, said: “Those sentences are pathetic and insulating and I know the judge explained at the time that it was the highest he could give, so I’ve got faith that if the guidelines had more movement they would have got longer.

“Let’s hope the Government act on this. From my experience of that day in court, no sentence is ever enough to help with what has happened, but the fact they got so little was insulting. Essentially between them – through their own actions – they took a life and they got minimal repercussions for that.

“She got three years and he got four years, six months. He’s got under a year left to serve before he’s out on licence, and she could be out by Christmas. She’s already asked twice to come out. Six months after her sentence she tried to get her category lowered and that was a year after Jack’s passing. A couple of weeks ago she was trying to make an appeal to be released earlier than her early release again. It shows no remorse. You’ve taken my son’s life, so just put your head down and serve your sentence.”

We launched our Time for Action on Dangerous Dogs campaign last October after a spate of fatal attacks on children and adults. Last year, there were almost 22,000 cases of out-of-control dogs causing injury in England and Wales, up from just over 16,000 in 2018.

In March 2022, Lawson Bond, two, died in a dog attack in Egdon, Worcs. A fortnight later, Bella-Rae Birch, 17 months, was killed by the family dog in St Helens, Merseyside. This was followed by fatal attacks on Daniel Twigg, three, three-month- old Kyra King, and Alice Stones, four.

In July, 2022, Joanne Robinson, 43, died after being attacked by one of her two Bully XLs at her home in Rotherham, South Yorks.This year, dogs have killed Natasha Johnston, 28, Wayne Stevens, 51, and Jonathan Hogg, 37. In 2013, Jade Lomas-Anderson, 14, was killed by two bull mastiffs and two bull terriers at a friend’s house. The dogs’ owner Beverley Concannon, 45, got a 16-week suspended sentence.

Nine-year-old Frankie MacRitchie was killed by a 7st American bulldog cross Staffordshire bull terrier in 2019. His dad Billy MacRitchie, 36, has backed our campaign, and begged: “Don’t let my boy die for nothing.”

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