Jade family ‘disgusted’ as dog attack owner is spared jail
The owner of four dogs that savaged a 14-year-old girl to death receives a 16-week suspended jail sentence after admitting causing suffering to the animals.
The powerful dogs – two bull mastiffs and two Staffordshire bull terriers – turned on Jade Lomas-Anderson on 26 March at Concannon’s home in Chaucer Grove, Atherton, near Wigan, writes Joe Nerssessian.
Anderson’s family said they were “disgusted” after Concannon walked free.
Jade’s mother Shirley was not in court but other family members were, including her stepfather Michael, who said he was disgusted with the sentence.
“I’m devastated and disgusted in the justice system. Today was just about dangerous dogs. I think she should be held responsible for Jade. We have got a life sentence. It has absolutely ripped us apart.”
‘Stir crazy’
Paul Taylor, prosecuting, read a statement from PC Burkinshaw, who found Jade dead in the kitchen of the house with the dogs in the yard and the kitchen door open and banging against the door jam.
“There was a large white bull mastiff type dog in the yard,” the statement read. “Its head and mouth were covered in blood and it was bounding around the yard.”
The American bull mastiff was kept in a tiny cage where it went “stir crazy”, along with two other pitbulls and another bull mastiff which were all kept cooped up in her council house.
The girl, who was on half-term school holidays and had stayed the night with Concannon’s daughter at the house, suffered “horrific” injuries “from head to toe”, the court heard.
‘Detrimental to well-being’
Mother-of-one Concannon, 45, who had been warned before about her aggressive dogs, admitted to the charges against two bull mastiffs, Buddy and Neo, and Staffordshire bull terriers Ty and Sky between 19 July last year and 25 March this year, in that she subjected the animals to “an environment that was detrimental to their well-being”.
She sat head down in the dock throughout the hearing just yards from Jade’s family, who broke into tears as the court heard distressing details of the incident.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it could not bring any charges under the dangerous dogs act because the four dogs were not banned breeds and were not out of control in a public place – the attack took place in her home.
The defendant was given a 16-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge totalling £165. She was also banned from keeping dogs indefinitely.