XL bully 'started eating pensioner alive' before being shot by police

John McColl, 84, was mauled by the dog, called Toretto, when he wandered onto the driveway of Sean Garner’s home (Pictures: SWNS/Liverpool Echo) An XL bully’s fatal attack on a pensioner was only halted when armed police shot it 10 times, a court has heard. John McColl, 84, was mauled by the dog, called Toretto, when he wandered onto the driveway of Sean Garner’s home in Warrington, Cheshire, just after 6pm on February 24 last year. Christopher Burton, who lives opposite the house on Bardsley Avenue, said he grabbed a walking stick after neighbour Victor Ferrier alerted him to the attack. Giving evidence from behind a screen at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Burton said: ‘The dog was chewing on the bloke’s face, it was tearing the bloke’s face. I struck it once with the walking stick.’ He said the dog, which the court heard weighed seven stone and four pounds, came towards him after he hit it on the head so he backed off. Mr Burton described hearing Mr McColl screaming and said the dog was biting the pensioner’s arm and face. He said when police arrived he was ‘hysterical’, adding: ‘I just could not get the dog off the bloke.’ John McColl suffered catastrophic injuries in the attack (Picture: Cheshire Police/SWNS) In a statement, Geoffrey Chadwick said he was walking his dogs nearby when he was told what was happening and ran home before returning with a spirit level. He said: ‘I thought the man was dead at first until I heard him ask me for help.’ Opening the case earlier on Tuesday, David Birrell, prosecuting, said it was not known why Mr McColl walked onto the driveway of the house. He said: ‘After he entered the defendant’s driveway, the dog attacked him and it just would not let him go. ‘People tried to help him. Grown men, with weapons, hitting the dog. But it was no use, the dog would not let him go. ‘The dog guarded him as if he were its prey. It savaged him.’ The scene of the fatal attack in Warrington, Cheshire (Picture: Liverpool Echo) The animal was shot 10 times by armed police, the court heard. PC Chris Cunliffe, one of the first officers to arrive on the scene, said in a statement: ‘I can only describe the dog’s behaviour as if it were guarding its toy it had just ripped apart.’ An examination of the dog after its death found human remains and plastic in its stomach but no dog food, the jury was told. A post-mortem examination of Mr McColl found he died from complications of dog bites to his head and face. The court heard Garner, 31, had moved into the property with his partner on February 3 last year. In their application for the tenancy they declared they had two children and one dog, a French bulldog. Two other dogs were found in the property after the attack – a female XL bully which was also shot by police and a pocket bully-type dog which was removed, the jury was told. Garner, of Belle Vale, Liverpool, denies being the owner of a dog causing injury while out of control. He has previously admitted two offences of possessing an XL bully without an exemption certificate. The case, expected to last about a week, was adjourned until Wednesday. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.