Family of mum, 50, killed by XL bullies ‘begged her to give them up’

Angeline Mahal was attacked in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, just after 1pm on Monday.

The woman mauled to death in an XL bully attack at her home in east London has been named as mum-of-two Angeline Mahal.

Horrified neighbours watched on as paramedics fought to save the 50-year-old after she was mauled in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, just after 1pm on Monday.

She was declared dead at the scene and the two registered dogs were seized after being contained in a room.

A relative, who did not wish to be named, said today that Ms Mahal had the dogs ‘since they were puppies’, before adding: ‘We don’t know the full details yet but I think only one of them attacked her.’

Speaking to MailOnline, they went on: ‘I’d discussed with Angeline the fatal XL Bully attack in Jaywick in which a grandmother died and I used to always urge her to give up the dogs.’

The relative also urged XL bully owners to ‘do the right thing if they spot their pets becoming aggressive and give them up’ because ‘we wouldn’t want any other family to go through this’.

A neighbour described how she previously warned her child not to go near the animals.

She recalled: ‘I said “don’t ever touch those dogs. They’re dangerous”.

A blue forensic tent was put up outside the woman’s home, which is in a small residential street.

Another woman living nearby, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed her shock at the attack.

She said: ‘I came out of the house and looked to see what had happened. We hadn’t heard anything but saw a helicopter overhead and loads of police.

‘I stood by the road and saw a paramedic administering CPR. That poor woman. It’s shocking.’

A man living nearby, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘I was sat in the garden when it happened. I didn’t hear anything, but I saw a helicopter overhead.

‘I looked out and saw two or three ambulances and eight or nine police cars. We asked police what had happened, they said there’d been ‘an unfortunate incident’.

‘At around 4.15pm we were told to evacuate. We were out for around half an hour while police blocked off the road.’

From February 1, it became a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.

Anyone who owns one of the dogs must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions.

The Government move to ban XL bullies followed a series of attacks.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths due to dog attacks in 2023, a sharp rise from preceding years where the number had been in single figures.

As of late 2023, around 60% of dogs held in police kennels were a bull breed of some kind.

The attack in Hornchurch comes after mother and son Amanda Young, 49, and Lewis Young, 30, were jailed last week after an eight-year-old boy was injured in a ‘savage and sustained attack’ by their XL bully.

The boy suffered extensive injuries to his scalp, face and hands in the attack in the communal area of a block of flats in Wadham Road, Bootle, Merseyside, on February 10.

In March Farhat Ajaz, 61, admitted being the owner of a dangerously out of control XL bully that injured an 11-year-old girl and two men in Birmingham.

And in the same month four men were hurt by a dog suspected to be the banned breed in Battersea, south west London, after which the animal was shot by police.

On February 3, just after the ban came into force, grandmother Esther Martin, 68, suffered unsurvivable wounds in a dog attack at a house in Jaywick in Essex, while visiting her grandson.

She had reportedly tried to break up a fight between two puppies before she was attacked.

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