Mother of son killed by dog haunted by last image

The mother of a 10-year-old boy killed by a dog has said she continues to picture the image of him after he died.

Jack Lis's mother Emma Whitfield said: "Every time I shut my eyes I try and tell myself that's not the last image I've got of him.

"I try and tell myself it was when he shut the door with his skateboard in his hands but that's not true."

Jack received "unsurvivable" injuries at a house in Caerphilly in 2021.

A man and a woman were jailed in June 2022 for owning or being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog.

The dog, called Beast, was an American XL bully which was not a banned breed.

It attacked Jack when he went into a house on 8 November 2021 after playing nearby.

Speaking to BBC Panorama, Ms Whitfield said the dog only attacked Jack's face and neck.

"They kept saying they're working on him, they're working on him and then the paramedic came back with a blanket and I knew," she said.

"I can't say out loud what else I saw because I don't want other people to have to picture it either."

The BBC Panorama investigation has uncovered how organised crime is moving into the world of extreme dog breeding.

French and English bulldogs and the new American bully breed are being bred with hugely exaggerated characteristics - such as excessive skin folds or large, muscular frames - and they are selling for tens of thousands of pounds on social media.

Although American bullies such as Beast are not banned, historically they have been cross-bred with pitbulls, which have been banned in the UK since 1991.

Hope Rescue, a dog rescue centre in Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, cares for abandoned or abused dogs, and its founder, Vanessa Waddon said it was regularly receiving animals which were victims of extreme breeding.

"This is torture, you know what these dogs are going to look like, but you're still breeding them to get more and more exaggerated features," she said.

"We're seeing this every single week. This is the day-to-day life for us here at the rescue now."

Panorama's Dogs, Dealers and Organised Crime is on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One Wales at 22:40 GMT

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o67CZ5qopV%2Bjsri%2Fjq6iZq%2BRobK0eZVtam5rZ2Z%2B