XL Bully owner whose banned pet bit off eight-year-old's thumb in savage attack is jailed
Caio Shaw told a court 'I thought I was going to die' as the powerful dog subjected him to the terrifying ordeal last August.
His mother had taken him Ian Parry's house in Caernarfon, Gwynedd en route to a birthday party.
As Caio and a friend were preparing to go inside, his grandmother Yvette Hodgson said the dog appeared, looking 'focused' on the youngster, and leapt towards his face, a court heard today.
Ms Hodgson fell to the floor and tried to shield her grandson but said there was a 'crunching' sound from his hand.
Owner Parry got a knife from the house and stabbed the dog to the chest.
But the pet bit Mrs Hodgson's forehead before it was stabbed a second time, while Caio was left covered in blood.
Police and ambulance crews were called, and despite being stabbed the dog was still alive when they arrived.
Caio Shaw, eight, was horrifically mauled and had his right thumb bitten off when he was attacked by a prohibited XL bully dog in Caernarfon, Gwynedd last August
'The decision was made to dispatch the dog with a single shot to the head,' prosecutor Richard Edwards told Caernarfon Crown Court
Caio was taken to hospital at Bangor and then, due to the severity of his injuries, transferred 90 miles to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.
He had a catalogue of wounds including to the ear, shoulder, face and arm and was seen by a plastic surgery team, losing his right thumb.
In an statement to the court describing the impact of the attack on August 11 last year, read by his mother Ffion Williams, 38, Caio said: 'I thought I was going to die.
'I still get bad dreams about what happened.
'I have scars all over my body.'
She was unaware there was an XL bully at the address, the court heard.
Parry, 45, admitted owning a dog dangerously out of control and which caused injury.
The dog had been in a cage in the living room.
Parry later told police a child may have opened it.
The dog was about ten months old and had been bought for £1,000 on Facebook, according to Parry.
In her own emotional impact statement, Caio's mother, a carer, told the judge her son had been 'adventurous and boisterous.'
She said: 'I had absolutely no idea the dog was in the house.
'If I had known there had been an XL Bully at the address I would never have let Caio go in.
'They have a bad reputation.'
She described seeing his ear was torn and thumb had gone.
'He was asking me "Why me, why me, I didn't do anything wrong"' Ms Williams said.
'Caio could have been killed that day. I think about what could have happened.'
Her son still suffers nightmares, she said.
The prosecutor added that Parry had 33 offences on his record including for violence and drug matters.
Defence barrister Simon Killeen said Parry had a wife and four children and had 'absolutely genuine remorse.'
Mr Killeen said the dog required an exemption certificate to keep it.
Parry had used an online system but didn't check payment had been made for it.
Jailing him for 26 months, Judge Nicola Jones said the dog was not wearing a harness or collar when it left the cage.
She said serious injury was caused to the boy, with partial amputation of the thumb, and to Ms Hodgson.
'It was an XL Bully, it was known to be prohibited,' the judge added.
An indefinite order prevents Parry from having custody of a dog.
He protested in Welsh from the dock about his sentence.
Outside court, Caio's mother said: 'I'm glad the case is over.
'It's a life sentence for Caio. It will never be over for Caio.
'I feel guilty because I took him there.'
It has been an offence to own or possess an XL Bully dog in England and Wales without a valid certificate of exemption since a crackdown launched last year following a spate of horrific attacks.
The powerfully-built animals can only be exercised in public on a muzzle and lead.
Dog attacks have risen by a fifth in one year, with police recording more than 80 incidents a day.
In 2023, there were over 6,000 recorded incidents of dog bites requiring hospital treatment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
How drivers were sold a car finance compensation fantasy
Britain has narrowly avoided a costly car finance compensation free-for-all after a landmark court ruling derailed chances of a payout for millions of drivers. Claims lawyers had been bombarding consumers with adverts suggesting they may have been entitled to thousands of pounds in a scandal over hidden commission on car finance deals. The scandal had been expected to rival the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, which cost banks more than £38 billion. It was thought that nearly 15 million drivers could be entitled to payouts worth as much as £44 billion in total — although Friday's Supreme Court ruling means the numbers are set to be far smaller. Questions have now been raised over whether those using car finance really lost out and how many of them deserve compensation at all. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had tried to intervene ahead of the ruling — arguing that a colossal compensation bill for the industry would damage the economy and consumers. The Supreme Court ruled on three cases where consumers bought cars on finance and argued that they had been treated unfairly because they had not been told about commission involved in their deals — which ranged from £183 to £1,651. The court rejected two of the three cases, but upheld a complaint by Marcus Johnson, a factory worker from south Wales — because in his case the £1,651 commission in his loan was 55 per cent of the fee (including interest) on his loan over five years. 'The fact that the undisclosed commission was so high is a powerful indication that the relationship between Mr Johnson and the lender was unfair,' the court's judgment said. It leaves the door open to claims for compensation on deals that contained large amounts of commission, or where the commission model influenced what they paid. How much would be needed for a deal to be unfair is something that is likely to be decided by the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which said it would confirm if it would introduce a redress scheme before stock markets open on Monday morning. The FCA had been investigating finance deals that had used a model called discretionary commission, which incentivised dealers to give customers a worse interest rate on their loan. However, a judgment by the Court of Appeal last October opened the door to compensation claims by millions of motorists who had bought cars on finance, regardless of the commission model. Lenders appealed to the Supreme Court over the ruling. About nine in ten cars are bought on finance and £39.7 billion was borrowed on more than two million cars in the year to May, according to the Finance and Leasing Association, a trade body. The Court of Appeal had ruled in October that car dealers had a duty to make clear the nature and value of any commission paid to them to ensure that borrowers could give 'informed consent' before agreeing to a deal. Reeves was among those concerned about a claims free-for-all, with the Treasury reportedly drawing up contingency plans to shield lenders from having to pay out billions of pounds in compensation. The Treasury attempted to intervene in the Supreme Court case, arguing that a ruling had 'the potential to adversely affect the United Kingdom's reputation as a place to do business, with a consequent impact on economic growth'. In the meantime complaints about car loans to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), a body that solves disputes, have risen from 4,130 in the first three months of 2023-24 to 37,230 in the last three months of 2024-25. Most of these have been brought by claims companies and no-win, no-fee law firms that file complaints on behalf of consumers in return for up to 30 per cent of any compensation. These companies have swamped radio, social media and television with adverts that tell consumers they could be owed thousands of pounds. On Thursday the FCA said it had required 224 adverts from claims firms about car finance to either be taken down or changed. There had been highly speculative figures advertised for how much consumers could get back, it said, including compensation figures that did not make clear they covered multiple car loans and misleading claims that refunds were guaranteed. It said companies had been signing up consumers without their consent after they clicked on adverts. Philip Salter, a former FCA regulator now at the consultancy Sicsic Advisory, said: 'I haven't liked a lot of the claims company advertising. You've had a lot of companies arguing that time is running out, but the clock hasn't even started. It's been a bit of an unseemly scramble.' • Common sense has triumphed over compensation culture If there is to be compensation for consumers, it is expected that the FCA will announce a free redress scheme where lenders will contact those eligible, meaning consumers should not need to use a claims company. Gary Greenwood from the investment bank Shore Capital said: 'It's one of those things where if you go by the letter of the law of the previous Court of Appeal judgment, you're almost coming to the conclusion that commission is bad. But the problem is that if you look at the reality of what had happened, there doesn't seem to have been a lot of consumer harm that's gone on. 'So any sort of redress has got to come down to: has there been any consumer harm here, or are people just trying to claim money back on a technicality?' Greenwood said. Charlie Nunn, the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, which runs Britain's biggest car finance lender, Black Horse, has denied the scandal was on the same level as PPI. 'Some 80 per cent of people need finance to buy a new car, and a large number of second-hand car buyers do as well,' he told The Times in January. 'We need a well-functioning motor finance industry that supports consumers.' The National Franchised Dealers Association, a trade body, told the Supreme Court that 'nobody goes to a car dealer with a reasonable expectation that it is acting without self-interest in relation to any of the products it sells'. The Supreme Court's judgment could have been the difference between lenders facing a compensation bill of £11 billion — for complaints about a specific form of commission — and £29 billion, according to Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, an investment bank. It could also have led to compensation claims about the sale of other financial products such as insurance where commission was involved but not properly disclosed. Consumers in turn could have had to foot the bill. Stuart Masson, the editor of the advice website The Car Expert UK, said that if lenders have to pay compensation to millions of people, car finance could get more expensive in the future as the industry tries to 'claw back' that money. 'That's not money they're going to find down the back of the sofa,' he told the BBC. 'They're going to have to get that back from increasing the costs of future lending, which won't just be on car finance. It could be on credit cards, it could be on personal loans, it could be on mortgages.' In January Reeves told bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: 'There is nothing pro-consumer about making it harder for people to buy an affordable car for their family.' Before the courts widened the scope of possible mis-selling, the FCA had been investigating a specific model of commission called discretionary commission. This is where the cut that lenders paid dealers was linked to the interest rate consumers were charged, incentivising dealers to charge borrowers more. This model was used in about 35 per cent of car finance deals, according to the FCA, before it banned the practice in January 2021. The FCA said consumers could have paid about £1,100 more in interest over a four-year £10,000 car finance deal because of this commission model — which is being used as the basis for many of the estimates around possible compensation. Salter, who worked on the ban when he was at the FCA, said: 'That previous Court of Appeal ruling surprised me. I think everyone knows that if they're buying a car the salesman's getting commission, don't they? But discretionary commission never felt right to me.' The FCA began its investigation in January last year on whether consumers had been properly told about the link between their repayments and the commission. The investigation was kicked off by two rulings by the ombudsman against Lloyds and Barclays last year, which ordered the banks to refund two consumers more than £1,000 each. The FCA is expected to set out its next steps, including whether there will be a redress scheme, within six weeks. Any scheme would be free and easy for consumers to use, it said, while the FOS is also free for consumers to appeal to. Rob Lilley-Jones from the consumer group Which? said: 'It's vital that finance firms are held accountable for mis-selling and if a large number of motorists are eligible for compensation consumers are likely to be bombarded with ads from claims firms offering to take on their case. 'Affected customers should be careful when enlisting the services of claims management companies as the wrong choice could lead to their case being poorly handled, losing a significant portion of the compensation in legal fees — or both.' Coby Benson from the law firm Bott & Co, which helped win the ombudsman's case against Lloyds, said the experience from PPI was that consumers could sometimes recover more money by going to court than through a redress scheme. He said: 'We would support a proactive redress scheme if it fairly compensated consumers. But we have doubts over the effective implementation of a scheme, because our data shows that about half of clients have a different address now to that which the lender had from the time of the agreement.'
North Wales Live
3 hours ago
- North Wales Live
Dog owner whose XL Bully mauled boy, £500k car theft plotter and arsonists jailed in July
A dog owner whose XL Bully badly injured a boy, a £500k car theft plotter and two arsonists were among criminals jailed in North Wales in July. There was also a man who threatened to cut off his victim's face and another who dragged his wife down the stairs. In other cases a "reckless and erratic" man smashed a hair salon window showering two women inside with glass, and another crook stabbed a man in the stomach after hitting another with a champagne bottle in an earlier incident. Judges sentenced these offenders to immediate custody. Here we present a summary of these and other shocking cases which led to imprisonment last month. Barthomiej Swedroski A Wrexham man who dragged his wife down the stairs before punching her "about ten times" has been jailed. Barthomiej Swedroski, 36, admitted three separate offences of assault and was jailed for 20 weeks, Caernarfon Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Ryan Rothwell said the couple, from Poland, had been in a relationship. Last November Swedroski was laid off from work and began drinking a lot. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here He assaulted Martyna Swedroski three times at the Atlea Estate, New Broughton, Wrexham. In the first incident on November 5 the defendant hit her several times in the face. She got a nosebleed and a scratch on her right eyebrow. Ethan Jordan Jones An abusive man woke up his partner using a lighter on her wrist during a string of assaults. Ethan Jones, who has "deep-seated jealousy issues", also grabbed the woman by her hair and punched her and said he "used to be an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter", a court heard today. The 25-year-old, of Llwyn Hudol, Maesgeirchen, Bangor, pleaded guilty to four assaults causing actual bodily harm, and intentional strangulation. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for 27 months for ABH and for 15 months for intentional strangulation, to run concurrently. Prosecutor Dafydd Roberts said Jones and the woman had been in a relationship for six years. His partner said he was "caring and thoughtful" at first but then they argued and it turned "toxic". Kevin Evans A balaclava-clad arsonist waging a "vendetta" set fire to a house in Caernarfon. Kevin Evans poured petrol through the letterbox of a property before setting it alight. He had filled a jerry can with the petrol before pushing the nozzle through the letterbox, before later putting the container, which was in a bag for life, into a skip. The defendant was also seen carrying a long knife or machete. The occupant spotted what was happening and managed to flee with her partner. A casualty injured in the incident named Evans, 33, as the suspected arsonist, and he was later arrested. Police rushed to his home and found him trying to wash his petrol-soiled clothes. Tomas Politovas A man had been jailed for his part in a "sophisticated" plot to steal 16 high value cars worth up to £500,000 from Cheshire and North Wales. Tomas Politovas covered CCTV and doorbell cameras with duct tape and used high tech equipment and GPS jamming devices before stealing BMWs and other vehicles. He would break them up with accomplices probably to sell the parts abroad. Even when the schemers' barn in Norfolk was raided their thefts continued. But a judge praised "alert" police officers in Prestatyn after they spotted Politovas's suspicious car and arrested him. He was found with a rucksack containing a Stanley knife and other "tools of his trade," Caernarfon Crown Court heard. John Haden A "reckless and erratic" man smashed the window of a hair salon, showering two women inside it with glass. The hairdresser and customer both needed hospital treatment. Police caught John Haden, 30, nearby following the incident in Wrexham city centre on June 12. The defendant, of Chester Road, Wrexham, admitted two charges of wounding by causing grievous bodily harm without intent. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for a total of 210 days after also activating part of a suspended sentence from an earlier offence. You can sign up for all the Martin Pritchard A knifeman threatened to cut a man's face off in a North Wales pub. Martin Pritchard targeted his victim after an incident in a car park involving Pritchard's sister. A judge jailed Pritchard, 43, of Scott Close, Marchwiel, for 16 months for threatening a person with a knife in a public place. Caernarfon Crown Court heard the offence took place at The Black Lion Inn in Bersham, Wrexham on July 13 last year. Prosecutor Ryan Rothwell said the complainant Mark Robertson heard a commotion outside the Black Lion Inn at 8pm. He saw a Ford Kuga - with the driver who appeared to be intoxicated - and a stationary Range Rover in the car park. Samual Allan A man who was "evicted" from a homeless hostel had £3,000 of his belongings stolen after he had gone. His possessions included an Omega watch worth £2,000. He later had to go to prison on remand in "tattered" clothes due to the burglary at the hostel in Flintshire. Samual Allan, 36, of Halkyn Road, Holywell, admitted committing burglary. A judge jailed him for 16 months. Mold Crown Court heard victim Robert Salisbury had been living in room 13 of the homeless hostel. Brian Storey A drugs trafficker used encrypted chat messages to import heroin worth £900,000 from Spain and the Netherlands to North Wales and elsewhere in the UK. Brian Storey set up a dummy run but when the drug was imported for real one consignment was intercepted by police. Officers swooped on Storey's home but he escaped and went on the run for almost 23 months. The 49-year-old was then spotted by chance in Chester and arrested, after his accomplices had earlier been caught in a Mold pub car park. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed Storey, of Fulwood Park, south Liverpool, for 12 years and seven months for conspiracy to import a class A drug between January 1 and May 5, 2020. Philip Powell A man turned up at a woman's home with a machete threatening "phone the police and you're dead," a court heard. The victim, who was at home with her partner, heard a loud "thudding bang", followed by a shattering noise and a further loud bang. She realised the porch window had been smashed and called the police following the incident, which happened shortly before midnight on June 5 this year. Jade Tufail, prosecuting, said the victim reviewed CCTV footage at the property and saw Phillip Powell using a machete to break through the front door and shouting "phone the police and you're dead". Matthew Ridyard Two burglars who broke into the Pontins holiday camp in Prestatyn fled after being disturbed by a guard. The pair ran from the scene, leaving behind a bag filled with bathroom mixer taps. However they made the decision to return to the site, and were seen getting into a silver car before it was driven away. Officers stopped the vehicle and the pair were arrested and charged with burglary. Matthew Ridyard, 28, of John Street, Rhyl, was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to burglary, while his co-defendant Michael Brady, 45, of Bath Street, Rhyl, was handed a 20-week sentence suspended for 18 months. Carly Leanne Griffiths A prolific offender has been jailed after she admitted to shoplifting and other offences in the Wrexham area. Carly Leanne Griffiths appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court yesterday (Wednesday, July 23) where she was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison. A North Wales Police spokesperson said: "The 35-year-old, of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to three counts of theft from a shop, harassment - breach of a restraining order, attempt theft from shop and assault. The court was told that the offences took place on the 12th, 13th and 21st July from the Co-op store on Prince Charles Road in Wrexham." Sergeant Tom Dewberry, Wrexham City District Support Sergeant added: 'Griffiths is a prolific offender, and I welcome that she is now behind bars. The impact that her offending had on the people and business affected cannot be underestimated." Andrew Phipps A man threatened to kill his neighbour before arming himself with a knife and chisel. Andrew Phipps also threatened to kill himself and others as he shouted while within a block of flats at Bron-y-Crest in Denbigh. Phipps was suffering with mental health issues at the time, a sentencing hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court heard. Phipps, 57, of, Bron-y-Crest, Denbigh, who appeared by video link from prison, admitted making threats to kill, criminal damage and affray. Richard Edwards, prosecuting, said on March 23, 2025, the victim, who had been a neighbour of Phipps for ten years, had gone round to his flat with some milk. However she became concerned when she saw knives on the floor, he made her a cup of coffee with no coffee in it and seemed confused. Ian Parry A dog owner has been jailed after his XL Bully mauled a boy in the street in an horrific attack. Nine-year-old Caio Shaw lost his right thumb after Ian Parry's dog escaped on to a street in Caernarfon and pounced on the child. Caernarfon Crown Court heard Parry's daughter had probably let the dog out of its cage and it went on to North Penrallt and soon "focussed" on Caio, who was then aged eight. It lunged at him and a woman Yvette Hodgson tried to fight off the dog. Parry, 45, himself came out of his house with a knife and stabbed the dog twice. Caleb Corr A landlord rushed to put out flames after a tenant set fire to his flat. The tenant also threw a glass bottle at a neighbour and brandished a knife before police got into the property and drew a Taser. Eventually Caleb Corr was arrested but he spat all around his police car cell. The 33-year-old, of Don Flats in Pentraeth, admitted several offences. a judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for four years for arson being reckless as to whether lives were endangered. Prosecutor Myles Wilson said some residents at Don Flats in Pentraeth smelt smoke coming from Corr's ground floor flat in the early hours of May 13. Aaron Roberts A man who stabbed a victim in the stomach and injured another man with a champagne bottle has been jailed for over four years. Aaron Roberts, 31, committed the offences in May and July last year. Roberts, of North Drive, Rhyl, admitted wounding, affray and three counts of criminal damage in one attack, and assault in the second incident. Prosecutor Richard Edwards said a man called Levi Lampard had been with his girlfriend Amy Adams to Wetherspoons in Holywell on July 24 last year. Afterwards Ms Adams suggested they pop over to her friend Sian's house. However the defendant Roberts was also in the house, the court heard.
ITV News
14 hours ago
- ITV News
Neighbours fight to free woman seriously hurt in Fleetwood XL bully dog attack
A woman has suffered serious injuries after being attacked by an XL bully dog. Neighbours fought to free the woman during the incident in Wingrove Road in Fleetwood on Thursday 1 August afternoon. The woman, in her 40s, is being treated in hospital for serious bites to her arm. Police say the dog - which was legally owned - was taken away by a vet and put down. Owning an XL bully is restricted under the Dangerous Dogs Act, it is illegal to have one without a certificate of exemption. In a statement Lancashire Police said: "We were called at 4.45pm yesterday to an address in Wingrove Road, Fleetwood, to a report of a dog bite. "The emergency services attended and found that a woman, aged in her 40s, had suffered serious dog bite injuries to her arm from an XL Bully. "Members of the public intervened to get the dog away from the woman."
