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A woman has died after being mauled by two dogs reported to be XL bullies.

Essex Police said officers were called to a house in Hillman Avenue, Jaywick, where they found victim Esther Martin seriously injured.

The 68-year-old, who was visiting her 11-year-old grandson at the time, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 4pm on Saturday.

A 39-year-old man from Jaywick, who was known to the victim, was arrested on suspicion of dangerous dog offences and remains in custody.

Ms Martin’s daughter Sonia Martin said the dogs were of the XL bully breed – which was banned at the start of this month – with a total of six puppies and two adult dogs in the property.

She told the BBC: “There were adult XL bully dogs in the property, and my mum had raised concerns to the owners about them being dangerous and quite aggressive.”

Ms Martin said she had been told the puppies started fighting and her mother was told by the dogs’ owner to “put a broom in among them, to distract them”.

“That’s when she was attacked,” she added.

Esther Martin. Pic: Family handout
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Esther Martin. Pic: Family handout

Ms Martin added that her mother, from Woodford Green in London, had been “getting her life back together” following the death of another daughter two years ago.

She added: “It’s killed our mum and it’s killed our children’s grandmother. I’m getting married in a couple of years and my mum won’t be at that.”

‘Unflinching bravery’

Essex Police said earlier on Sunday that the force was “working with experts” to establish the breed of the dogs and urged the public “not to speculate”.

Chief Superintendent Glen Pavelin said both of the animals were “destroyed inside the house” after officers arrived at the scene.

He told reporters: “Their unflinching bravery and professionalism ensured that there is no ongoing threat to the people of Essex as a result of this incident.”

Pic: Essex Police
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Experienced detectives are leading the investigation. Pic: Essex Police

The force also revealed that members of the public tried to save Esther as the attack unfolded.

Chief Supt Pavelin said: “I would also like to thank local people who tried to get into the house to help Esther Martin. You should be proud.”

He added: “Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by what’s happened.

“I’ve seen the flowers laid down for Esther, as have my officers. I would like to thank all those that have come together to pay tribute to her.”

Chief Supt Pavelin said the man arrested is thought to be a relative of Esther.

‘Barking and screaming’

Lucy Shaw, 38, who lives nearby, told the PA news agency she heard screaming for around 10 minutes.

She said: “We went out into the garden and it was all quiet and then we heard dogs barking, and then we heard someone screaming.

“It seemed like the screaming of a child. That went on for about 10 minutes. We went back in after a while because it sounded horrific.”

Pic: Ed Schooling/Facebook
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The victim was declared dead at the scene. Pic: Ed Schooling/Facebook

Fellow neighbour Mike Coleman, 74, said he saw a man come down the road to the property and start shouting.

He said: “He is really shouting and hollering, he was really, really loud. Then he starts whacking at the windows. He appeared panicked.

“He said ‘phone the police’. My wife phoned them but they said they had someone else on the phone. Minutes later the police came – two cars, then three then five, and then they blocked the road off.

“I heard the shots of them being destroyed, then that was it.”

His wife Julie Coleman, 67, described the man as “very stressed, very agitated, very verbal and quite concerned”.

She added: “He was shouting ‘they’re XL bullies’, but I just don’t know [what breed they were].”

Breed yet to be established

Although the breed involved is yet to be established, the attack comes just days after a ban on XL bully-type dogs came into force, meaning it is now a criminal offence to own one of the animals in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.

Pic: Essex Police
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A man has been detained on suspicion of dangerous dog offences. Pic: Essex Police

Unregistered pets can be seized and owners fined and prosecuted.

Around 40,000 of the large bulldog-type American breed are believed to have been registered before Wednesday’s deadline, but there may be thousands more without certificates.

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The ban on XL bully dogs was introduced after a spate of attacks in recent years.

The breed was added to the Dangerous Dogs Act on 31 October last year when restrictions came into force dictating the dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.

Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs also became illegal as of 31 December 2023.

Owners of XL bully dogs in Scotland will also be subject at a later date to the safeguards after Holyrood replicated legislation in place south of the border.

A decision on whether to add to the list of banned breeds in Northern Ireland is for locally elected ministers and is yet to be made.

People with dangerously out-of-control dogs can be jailed for up to 14 years and banned from owning animals, and their pets can be put down.

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‘This shouldn’t have happened’: Bishop who interrupted church choir in dressing gown apologises

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'This shouldn't have happened': Bishop who interrupted church choir in dressing gown apologises

A bishop who interrupted a church concert in his dressing gown – and told singers to “leave his house” – has formally apologised to the choir.

Jonathan Baker was filmed standing barefoot at a microphone as he criticised performers for making a “terrible racket” at St Andrew’s Church in central London.

Addressing the City Academy Voices choir directly, the bishop of Fulham said: “I write to apologise for the distress and offence I caused in bringing the concert to a premature end.

“This should not have happened … I also apologise for remarks which were made in haste, and which have understandably caused hurt and distress.”

The bishop, in his dressing gown, gave the choir a dressing down
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The bishop, in his dressing gown, gave the choir a dressing down

Mr Baker had demanded for the performance to stop because it was 10pm – and says he didn’t realise the choir had booked the church until 11pm.

In the statement obtained by Sky News, he added: “I have lived here on site at St Andrew’s for 10 years, for much of which City Academy has rehearsed and performed here.

“You have been, and continue to be, welcome – and I hope that you will be able to continue the relationship with us.

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“I can give you every assurance that the events of Friday evening will not recur, and I apologise again to performers (especially those unable to perform at the end of the evening) and the audience alike.”

The choir performed their last song
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The choir performed their last song

The choir was performing to a 300-strong audience in Holborn when the lights were suddenly turned off, with Mr Baker declaring the concert was “over”.

A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and for the musicians to step down from the stage, attracting boos from the audience.

The choir went on to perform one last song, an A cappella version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, before bringing their show to a close.

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Jonathan Baker has apologised

One member of the audience, who was attending with his 10-year-old daughter, told Sky News he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.

Benedict Collins had told Sky News: “This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a ‘terrible racket’. The people here had put their heart and soul into it.

“The bishop cut them off in midstream, preventing soloists who had worked their hardest from singing – and preventing the audience, which included people of all ages, from enjoying it to the end.”

The choir told Sky News it was “upsetting” that they were unable to finish their show as planned, but “hold no hard feelings and wish the bishop well”.

A spokesperson added: “If anyone is thinking of joining one of our choirs, the City Academy Voices rehearse on Mondays in central London. Dressing gowns optional.”

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X criticises Online Safety Act – and warns it’s putting free speech in the UK at risk

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X criticises Online Safety Act - and warns it's putting free speech in the UK at risk

The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.

New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.

The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.

X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.

It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.

“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”

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What are the new online rules?

X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.

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“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.

A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.

“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.

Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.

In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.

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Why do people want to repeal the Online Safety Act?

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.

Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.

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These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.

The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.

It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.

Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.

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British children who drowned off Spanish coast named

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British children who drowned off Spanish coast named

Two siblings who drowned while on holiday in Spain have been named – with a fundraiser for their family reaching £40,000.

Ameiya and Ricardo Junior Parris, aged 13 and 11, died on Tuesday evening after getting into difficulty off Llarga beach in Salou, Catalonia.

Their father Ricardo tried to rescue them, but he also got into difficulty and was unconscious when he was pulled from the water. He was later released from hospital with a concussion.

Ricardo Senior and his partner, Shanice Del-Brocco, 31, were staying at the Hotel Best Negresco right by the beach with their six children when tragedy struck.

Ameiya and Ricardo Junior. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
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Ameiya and Ricardo Junior have been described as “hilarious, sensitive and loving”. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire

The construction worker from Birmingham had taken their two oldest children for one final swim while Shanice had taken the younger ones back to the hotel.

“They’d gone out. They were being sensible. They’re very good swimmers,” the children’s aunt, Kayla Del-Brocco, said.

“They knew it was late. However, they’d been doing this every day on holiday, so that day was no different. They didn’t go out far, but the current was just too strong and pulled them.”

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A hotel worker saw the siblings struggling in the water and called for help. When Shanice returned to the beach, emergency services were already at the scene, with Junior, nicknamed Joby, taken away in a helicopter.

“It’s breaking (Ricardo), if I’m honest, because he was in the water, and I know he said things to my sister like: ‘I had him, I had Joby in my arms, and we got smacked up the rocks, and that’s the last thing I remember,'” Shanice’s sister said.

Ricardo Senior suffered a “nasty concussion and some bumps and batters”, Ms Del-Brocco said, adding that he was the first to be rescued.

Little Ameiya and her baby brother Ricardo Junior. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
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Little Ameiya and her oldest brother Ricardo Junior. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire

The couple were unable to see their children’s bodies until Thursday at the mortuary and are now waiting for them to be repatriated to the UK, which they were told “could be anything from seven to 15 days”, Ms Del-Rocco said.

“They are just numb. They’re holding each other up and keeping it together for the little ones at the minute; going through the motions and desperately waiting to come home now.”

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The GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of repatriating the bodies of Ameiya and Ricardo Junior, which was set up by her cousin, has already raised around £40,000, which Ms Del-Rocco described as “phenomenally overwhelming”.

“Maya was intelligent, thoughtful, and growing into a strong young woman. Ricardo Junior was playful, kind, and always smiling. They brought so much love, laughter, and energy into the lives of everyone around them,” the fundraising page reads.

“Their absence has left an unbearable silence not just for their parents, but for their whole family, who were incredibly close and shared an unbreakable bond.”

Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
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Ameiya and Ricardo Junior were doting older siblings. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire

Ms Del-Brocco said that Ameiya and Junior, who were in Years 7 and 8 at North Birmingham Academy, were doting older siblings, with their mother describing them as “hilarious, sensitive and loving – the best big brother and sister anyone could want”.

Their aunt said that Ameiya, a talented runner with ambitions of going to the Olympics, was “unapologetically just herself” and “driven by being unique”.

Ricardo Junior was a “very, very special one-of-a-kind character” who wanted to become a famous YouTuber.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of two British children who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”

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