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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
Image:
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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Jaguar Land Rover production shutdown after cyber attack extended to 1 October

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Jaguar Land Rover production shutdown after cyber attack extended to 1 October

Britain’s largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), faces a prolonged shutdown of its global operations after the company announced an extension of the current closure, which began on 31 August, to at least 1 October.

The extension will cost JLR tens of millions of pounds a day in lost revenue, raise major concerns about companies and jobs in the supply chain, and raise further questions about the vulnerability of UK industry to cyber assaults.

A spokesperson said of the move: “We have made this decision to give clarity for the coming week as we build the timeline for the phased restart of our operations and continue our investigation.

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“Our teams continue to work around the clock alongside cybersecurity specialists, the NCSC and law enforcement to ensure we restart in a safe and secure manner.

“Our focus remains on supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and our retailers who remain open. We fully recognise this is a difficult time for all connected with JLR and we thank everyone for their continued support and patience.”

More than 33,000 people work directly for JLR in the UK, many of them employed on assembly lines in the West Midlands, the largest of which is in Solihull, and a plant at Halewood on Merseyside.

An estimated 200,000 more are employed by several hundred companies in the supply chain, who face a prolonged interruption to trade with what for many will be their largest client.

The “just-in-time” nature of automotive production means that many had little choice but to shut down immediately after JLR announced its closure, and no incentive to resume until it is clear when it will be back in production.

Industry sources estimate that around 25% of suppliers have already taken steps to pause production and lay off workers, many of them by “banking hours” they will have to work in future.

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Another quarter are expected to make decisions this week, following JLR’s previous announcement that production would be paused until at least Wednesday.

JLR, which produces the Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover marques, has also been forced to halt production and assembly at facilities in China, Slovakia, India and Brazil after its IT systems were effectively disabled by the cyber attack.

JLR’s Solihull plant has been running short shifts with skeleton staff, with some teams understood to be carrying out basic maintenance while the production lines stand idle, including painting floors.

Among workers who had finished a half-shift last Friday, there was resignation to the uncertainty. “We have been told not to talk about it, and even if we could, we don’t know what’s happening,” said one.

Calls for support

The government has faced calls from unions to introduce a furlough-style scheme to protect jobs in the supply chain, but with JLR generating profits of £2.2bn last year, the company will face pressure to support its suppliers.

Industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said while government support should be the last resort, it should not be off the table.

“Whatever happens to JLR will reverberate through the supply chain,” chief executive Mike Hawes told Sky News.

“There are a huge number of suppliers in the UK, a mixture of large multinationals, but also a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises, and those are the ones who are most at risk. Some of them, maybe up to a quarter, have already had to lay off people. There’ll be another further 20-25% considering that in the next few days and weeks.

“It’s a very high bar for the government to intervene, but without the supply chain, you don’t have the major manufacturers and you don’t have an industry.”

What happened to the IT system?

JLR, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, has provided no detail of the nature of the attack, but it is presumed to be a ransomware assault similar to that which debilitated Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op earlier this year.

As well as interrupting vehicle production, dealers have been unable to register vehicles or order spare parts, and even diagnostic software for analysing individual vehicles has been affected.

Last week, it said it was conducting a “forensic” investigation and considering how to stage the “controlled restart” of global production.

Speculation has centred on the vulnerability of IT support desks to surreptitious activity from hackers posing as employees to access passwords, as well as ‘phishing’ or other digital means of accessing systems.

In September 2023, JLR outsourced its IT and digital services to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), also a Tata-owned company, intended, it said, to “transform, simplify, and help manage its digital estate, and build a new future-ready, strategic technology architecture”.

Resilience risks

Three months earlier, TCS extended an existing agreement with M&S, saying it would “improve resilience and pace of innovation, and drive sustainable growth.”

Officials from the National Cyber Security Centre are thought to be assisting JLR with their investigations, while officials and ministers from the Department for Business and International Trade have been kept informed of the situation.

Liam Byrne, a Birmingham MP and chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, said the JLR closure raises concerns about the resilience of UK business.

“British business is now much more vulnerable for two reasons. One, many of these cyber threats have got bad states behind them. Russia, North Korea, Iran. These are serious players.

“Second, the attack surface that business is exposed to is now much bigger, because their digital operations are much bigger. They’ll be global organisations. They might have their IT outsourced in another country. So the vulnerability is now much greater than in the past.”

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Epping hotel asylum seeker jailed after sexually assaulting woman and 14-year-old girl

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Epping hotel asylum seeker jailed after sexually assaulting woman and 14-year-old girl

An asylum seeker has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu had been staying at The Bell Hotel in the Essex town, with the incident fuelling weeks of protests at the site.

The Ethiopian national was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and harassment without violence earlier this month.

Kebatu’s lawyer, Molly Dyas, told Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday that he wanted to be deported, calling it his “firm wish” and a view he held “before the trial”.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of at least 12 months.

Kebatu was living in The Bell Hotel at the time of the incident. Pic: PA
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Kebatu was living in The Bell Hotel at the time of the incident. Pic: PA

Handing sentence, district judge Christopher Williams said the asylum seeker posed a “significant risk of reoffending”.

He also told the court that Kebatu “couldn’t have anticipated” his offending “would cause such a response from the public”.

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“Particularly in Epping,” the judge said, “but also across the UK, resulting in mass demonstrations and fear that children in the UK are not safe.

“It’s evident to me that your shame and remorse isn’t because of the offences you’ve committed but because of the impact they’ve had.”

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Epping hotel asylum seeker jailed

Kebatu bowed his head to the judge before he was led to the cells.

Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was told Kebatu had tried to kiss the teenager, put his hand on her thigh and brushed her hair after she offered him pizza.

Kebatu, 41, also told the girl and her friend he wanted to have a baby with them and invited them back to the hotel.

The incident happened on 7 July, about a week after he arrived in the UK on a boat.

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The incident sparked protests in the Essex town and nationwide. Pic: PA
Image:
The incident sparked protests in the Essex town and nationwide. Pic: PA

The girl later told police she “froze” and got “really creeped out”, telling him: “No, I’m 14.”

Kebatu was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman – putting his hand on her thigh and trying to kiss her – when she tried to intervene after seeing him talking to the girl again the following day.

He denied all the charges but was convicted earlier this month.

Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Kebatu knows ‘Epping is in chaos’ over actions

Prosecutor Stuart Cowen, discussing a pre-sentence report, said Kebatu admitted “he didn’t know the UK was so strict, even though he knew the Ethiopian age of consent was 18”.

Kebatu understood that “Epping is in chaos” because of what he did and that he “had got a lot of migrants in trouble,” Mr Cowen said.

He added that the asylum seeker “felt very sad and felt a lot of remorse,” but added: “The word manipulative is used within the report.”

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Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Mr Cowen also read statements from both victims, with the 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, saying she is now “checking over my shoulder” when she is out with friends.

She said she prepared the statement “so that the man who did this to me understands what he has done to me – a 14-year-old girl”.

She continued: “Every time I go out with my friends, I’m checking over my shoulder.

“Wearing a skirt now makes me feel vulnerable and exposed. Seeing the bench [where the sexual assault took place] reminds me of everything that happened.

“I’m aware there have been protests because of what has happened – I’m lucky that I was not in the country when that happened.”

The adult woman who was sexually assaulted by Kebatu and who also cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “Since the incident, I feel both angered and frustrated.

“He [Kebatu] did not even appear to know that what he’s done was wrong.”

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Grooming victim’s family ‘angry’ and ‘shocked’ prosecutors didn’t see police interview video

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Grooming victim's family 'angry' and 'shocked' prosecutors didn't see police interview video

The family of a grooming victim say they are “angry” and “heartbroken” that prosecutors didn’t see a video of her police interview during their investigations.

Jodie Sheeran, then 15, was allegedly taken to a hotel and raped in November 2004.

She’s believed to have been groomed by young men of Pakistani heritage for a year beforehand. Jodie’s son, Jayden, was born nine months later.

A man was charged, but the case was dropped a day before the trial was meant to start in 2005.

Her father, David, said they were told it was because Jodie had a “reckless lifestyle” and was “an unreliable witness”, but that they never received a formal reason.

In July, he told Sky’s The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee he thinks police “bottled it” because they were worried about being called racist.

Jodie died in November 2022 from an alcohol-related death.

It’s now emerged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) didn’t view the video of Jodie’s police interview as it “was not shared with us” and they didn’t know at the time that it still existed.

Instead, they only had a transcript of what she told officers.

It’s unclear exactly why this happened, but Staffordshire Police said the footage was available in 2019, when the CPS and police reviewed the case, and in 2023, when the investigation was opened again.

Jodie Sheeran with her mother Angela
Image:
Jodie Sheeran with her mother Angela


“I don’t know if I’ve been misled [or] it was an accident,” Jodie’s mother, Angela, told Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee.

“To suddenly say evidence has been there all along – and I’ve got every single letter, every email to tell me they haven’t got the evidence any more… and then it’s emerged Staffordshire Police did have the evidence after all – it was shocking really.”

The CPS watched the video last month and said the transcript is an accurate representation of what Jodie says on the tape.

However, it hasn’t changed their view that there’s no realistic prospect of conviction – and won’t be taking any further action.

Jodie's father David (right, with Jayden) says it seems police and CPS 'didn't know what one another were doing'
Image:
Jodie’s father David (right, with Jayden) says it seems police and CPS ‘didn’t know what one another were doing’

Jodie’s father told Sky News he believes it shows the police and CPS “didn’t know what one another were doing – and it makes you so angry”.

“I feel like they’ve gotten away with it,” added Jodie’s son Jayden. “It’s years on now – I’m grateful they’ve found the evidence but what are they doing about it?”

‘I’ll keep fighting until I get justice’

Angela said it shows that other families in a similar situation shouldn’t “take no for an answer” from police or the CPS.

“Since losing a child, nothing else matters, so I’m not going anywhere,” she said.

“So I will keep fighting and fighting and fighting until I get justice for Jodie – and hopefully justice for probably thousands of other victims out there as well.”

Angela says she will 'keep fighting until I get justice for Jodie'
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Angela says she will ‘keep fighting until I get justice for Jodie’

A national inquiry into grooming gangs was announced in June after a series of cases uncovered sexual abuse of mainly white girls by men of predominately Pakistani heritage had taken place in a number of towns and cities.

A Staffordshire Police spokesperson said their thoughts remain with Jodie’s family and that a “significant amount of work has been undertaken reviewing this case several times”.

They said the interview video was “available to the Senior Investigating Officers in 2019 and 2023” and a “comprehensive contemporaneous written record” of it was given to the CPS on both occasions.

The statement added: “In August 2025, a copy of the recording was provided to the CPS who conducted due diligence to ensure the contemporaneous written record of Jodie’s ABE interview, that they reviewed in 2019 and 2023, was an accurate account of the video recording. They have confirmed this is the case.”

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Jodie died in November 2022
Image:
Jodie died in November 2022


Police said the case had been submitted for a further evidential review.

“Should any new evidence come to light, it will be referred to the CPS for their consideration,” the spokesperson added.

The CPS said: “We carried out reviews of our decision-making in this case in 2019 and 2023 using records provided by Staffordshire Police – both these reviews found that there was not enough evidence to charge the suspect with rape.

“While we requested all available records, Jodie’s video interview from 2005 was not shared with us, we were not informed that it had been retained, and it was only made available to our prosecutors recently after further requests.

“Having cross-referenced the video with detailed accounts of it previously available to us, we have determined that the conclusions we reached in our previous reviews still stand.”

:: Watch the full interview on The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee from 8pm on Tuesday

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