Police apologise after XL bully killed by mistake

It has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully dog in England and Wales since 1 February

An MP is demanding answers after police put down a family's pet dog by mistake.

Lancashire Police has apologised for euthanising the seized XL bully breed while its owners were in the process of applying for an exemption to keep the pet.

Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said: "This should be a ‘never event’ and I have taken this issue up directly with the police."

Lancashire Police said: "We are deeply sorry for the understandable distress our error must have caused."

Labour politician Ms Collinge continued: “I was shocked to see that a much-loved pet dog, Bruno, was wrongly euthanised whilst in police care.

"Processes should have been in place to ensure this never happened.

"There is a legal process when dogs are under police care and it appears this hasn’t been followed.

"I will continue to support the family and I appeal to the police to disclose how they are changing their practices so that this is something that can never happen again."

'Distress'

A statement from Lancashire Police said: "In August we seized an XL bully dog from an address in Morecambe as part of our powers under the Dangerous Dogs Act as XL Bully dogs are a banned breed.

"A file was being prepared for consideration of the owner being prosecuted for the relevant offences.

"However, unfortunately, due to an administration error the dog was subsequently euthanised before the court hearing."

The force added: "We have met the dog’s owner and offered him a full and unreserved apology for what happened. We are deeply sorry for the understandable distress our error must have caused.

"We have reviewed what happened and we have introduced a process to ensure the same mistake cannot be made again."

It has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully dog in England and Wales since 1 February unless the dog has a certificate of exemption, third party insurance, with the dog muzzled and on a lead in a public place.