Esther Martin, 68, dies after being mauled by two ‘XL bully’ dogs in Jaywick, Essex
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
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
UK
How Britain’s most notorious gangster turned up at a charity lunch to fact-check a retired detective’s talk
Britain’s most notorious gangster and the detective who pursued him have been involved in a bizarre confrontation…at a charity lunch.
Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown was at a Kent golf club and about to give a talk on the infamous £26m Brink’s-Mat gold robbery when he was summoned from the stage by officials.
Mr Brown, who appeared on the award-winning Sky News StoryCast podcast The Hunt For The Brink’s-Mat Gold in 2019, said: “I go outside and they say ‘he’s here’ and I say ‘who’s here’ and they say that table over there in the corner, that’s Kenny Noye with a baseball cap pulled down over his head.”
Noye stabbed to death an undercover policeman during the Brink’s-Mat investigation, but was acquitted of murder, though he was jailed for handling the stolen gold.
After his release, he used a knife again in the M25 road-rage murder of motorist Stephen Cameron.
“They said what are we going to do?” said Mr Brown.
“I said are you serving food? Well, just use plastic knives.”
Former Detective Superintendent Ian Brown. Pic: Robert Mulhern
Although Mr Brown had not personally arrested Noye over Brink’s-Mat he had identified him as a suspect months after the robbery.
Years later he met him during an ill-fated TV interview in which he quizzed him about his role in the robbery.
He said: “He told me everything I wanted to know except the truth. He still insists he had nothing to do with it.”
The interview was never broadcast after the prison authorities threatened to send Noye back to jail for a breach of his parole.
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Kenneth Noye, left, and Stephen Cameron
Mr Brown, 86, said: “I went over to him and said ‘thanks for coming, nice of you to pop in’, but I don’t believe you’ve turned up with your sons and grandkids to listen to me telling how you killed a police officer.
“And he said ‘I want to make sure you don’t say I’ve been dealing drugs’ and I said ‘I’ve never said that Kenny’.”
The retired detective told Noye he wasn’t going to change his presentation just because he was there.
“He said ‘mate, I wouldn’t expect you to and I’ll come up [on stage] if you want me to’.
“Can you think how he’s turned up with his family to listen to somebody talking about you killing the police? Now, you put logic on that.”
The bizarre story emerged when I rang Mr Brown after I’d been told about the meeting.
A Sky News podcast told the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist in 2019
I also wanted to ask him about the recent BBC hit drama series The Gold which retold the story of the Brink’s-Mat heist at Heathrow Airport in 1983.
“It was an absolute shambles, far too much dramatic licence and the real story was so much better,” said the ex-detective, whose job had been to follow the trail of the 6,800 gold bars to the US and the Caribbean.
He said he chatted to one of the show’s writers for a long time in a phone call but then heard no more.
“They invented people, changed a bit here and there and made it politically correct in so many ways. I’m just very sad that that is what people will believe.
“And I couldn’t work out who my character was supposed to be. I could have been one of the female cops.”
He also criticised the portrayal of Noye, now 78, as a likeable jack-the-lad character when the truth about the double killer with a volatile temper was quite different.
Oasis have reunited on stage for the first time in almost 16 years – with brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher sharing a high five and the briefest of hugs as they closed a performance that for fans was more than worth the wait.
After the split in 2009, for many years Noel said he would never go back – and for a long time, as the brothers exchanged insults through separate interviews (and on social media, for Liam), it seemed pretty unlikely to ever happen.
But now, here they are. As they walked out on stage at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, all eyes were on the Gallaghers for a sense of their relationship – dare we say it, friendship? – now after all these years.
There was no reference to their fall-out or making up, but the gestures were there – lifting hands together as they walked out for the first time.
The headline “OASIS REUNITED” was shown on stage at the gig. Pic: PA
Fans at the Oasis gig. Pic: PA
Headlines and tweets of speculation and then confirmation of the reunion filled the screens as the show started. “This is happening,” said one, repeatedly.
In the end, it was all about the music.
Liam has received criticism in the past for his voice not being what it once was during his solo or Beady Eye performances, but back on stage with his brother tonight he delivered exactly what fans would have hoped for – a raw, steely-eyed performance, snarling vocals, and the swagger that makes him arguably the greatest frontman of his day.
This was Oasis sounding almost as good as they ever have.
Fans sang along and held up their phones to film as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
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Oasis: ‘It’s good to be back’
They opened with Hello, because of course, “it’s good to be back”. And then Acquiesce, and those lyrics: “Because we need each other/ We believe in one another.”
The song is said to be about friendship in the wider sense, rather than their brotherly bond and sibling rivalry, but you can’t help but feel like it means something here.
Over two hours, they played favourite after favourite – including Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Supersonic and Roll With It.
Liam Gallagher as Oasis takes to the stage in Cardiff. Pic: PA
In the mid-section, Liam takes his break for Noel to sing Talk Tonight, Half The World Away and Little By Little; the tempo slows but there is by no means a lull, with the fans singing all his words back to him.
Liam returns for hits including Stand By Me, Slide Away, Whatever and Live Forever, before sending the crowd wild (or even wilder) with Rock And Roll Star.
Noel Gallagher performing on stage. Pic: PA
An Oasis fan is pointing at the stage during the gig. Pic: PA
When the reunion announcement was made last summer, it quickly became overshadowed by the controversy of dynamic pricing causing prices to rocket. As he has done on X before, Liam addressed the issue on stage with a joke.
“Was it worth the £4,000 you paid for the ticket?” he shouted at one point. “Yeah,” the crowd shouts back; seemingly all is forgiven.
After Rock And Roll Star, the dream that very quickly became a reality for this band, Noel introduced the rest of the group, calling Bonehead a “legend”.
Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs of Oasis. Pic: PA
Liam Gallagher carried a tambourine in his mouth during the concert. Pic: PA
Then he acknowledges all their young fans, some who maybe weren’t even born when they split. “This one is for all the people in their 20s who’ve never seen us before, who’ve kept this shit going,” he says before the encore starts with The Masterplan.
Noel follows with Don’t Look Back In Anger, and the screens fill with Manchester bees in reference to the arena bombing and how the song became the sound of hope and defiance for the city afterwards.
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‘I’d have paid £10,000 to see them’
Two fans sat on their friends’ shoulders as Oasis performed. Pic: PA
During Wonderwall, there’s a nice touch as Liam sings to the crowd: “There are many things I would like to say to you, but I don’t speak Welsh.”
It is at the end of Champagne Supernova, which closes the set, that it happens; Noel puts down his guitar, and they come together for a high-five and a back-slap, a blink-and-you’d miss it hug.
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“Right then, beautiful people, this is it,” Liam had told the crowd as he introduced the song just a few minutes earlier. “Nice one for putting up with us over the years.”
From the roar of the audience, it’s safe to say most people here would agree it’s been worth it.
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