Family share horror accidents of OAP ‘eaten alive’ by XL bully as face screened off in hospital

Great-grandfather John McColl, 84, died a month after being savaged by an XL bully after he wandered up the driveway of Sean Garner’s home in Warrington, Cheshire

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The daughter of a pensioner who was mauled by an XL bully says she relives visiting her father in hospital. John McColl’s injuries were so “awful,” he was shielded from his family behind a screen.

The great-grandfather, 84, was set upon by the dog, named Toretto, after he wandered up the driveway of Sean Garner’s home in Warrington, Cheshire, at about 6pm on 24 February last year.

A post-mortem examination of the dog later revealed it had no food in its stomach, but it had started to eat Mr McColl alive. Last month, Garner was today jailed for 12 years for being the owner of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Mr McColl’s daughter Joann Percival, 57, said her father, who died about a month after the attack, had his face concealed by a screen when family members visited him in hospital due to the severity of his injuries.

She said: “We went in and we weren’t prepared for what we saw. We didn’t see a lot because he was behind a screen. It was just awful. You relive that all.”

“His arms were wrapped in bandages and only the tips of his fingers, which bore bite marks, were visible.”

When he was able to communicate, he said “dog” and raised his arms as though defending himself, she said. His granddaughter Kelly Percival, 33, said, despite warnings, she did venture behind the screen to see her grandfather.

She said: “He resembled nothing of my granddad. I had never seen, anything at all like it. To think that a dog had done that, and that dog was around small babies as well, it’s just frightening.”

Detective Inspector Simon Mills revealed that some of the officers and others involved required counselling following the incident.

He stated: “In 28 years, these are the worst injuries I’ve sadly seen to anybody.

“I know as an incident, for everybody that attended, and I’m including the neighbours, witnesses, all the attending officers, medical staff, it was just an awful, traumatic incident for everyone involved, right through to surgeons at the hospitals later.”

While family members were spending their final weeks with Mr McColl, who underwent a 17-hour operation to try and mend his injuries, they were having to contend with false narratives being propagated by Garner’s supporters online.

Mrs Percival said: “While my dad was fighting for his life, they were abusing us on Facebook and the comments they were coming out with.

“We were at the hospital with my dad and all they could do was think of lies.”

She mentioned that among the claims made were that Mr McColl, a retired steel erector originally from Scotland, had broken into the house and let the dog out.

During his trial, Garner alleged that the animal had been padlocked in a shed on the patio, inside a locked gate, and Mr McColl must have deliberately entered and opened the shed.

Mrs Percival said although they did not know the reason her father walked onto the driveway, she suspected he had gone to do the “neighbourly thing” and inform the family their dog was loose.

She said: “We went through so many different emotions as a family – anger, hatred.

“As a family, we know there was no intent there. Nobody would have wanted something like that to happen and I know that. But the fact (is) that they’ve shown no remorse, no empathy, no apology.

“If it had been my dog that had done that, I would have been absolutely devastated and I don’t know how I would have got over that.

“We’ve had nothing apart from lies, blame, abuse off them. It’s shocking.”

She added: “Sean Garner knows what happened that night and, unfortunately, he’s going to have to live with that for the rest of his life.”

Mr Mills said he had a “lot of respect” for Mr McColl’s family.

He said: “They’ve had to endure comments from posts right from the outset, when Garner was first charged, with people taking the side of the dog owner. They’ve not been able to grieve properly.

“They’ve had to hold their emotions throughout the trial, seeing him lie at court and then his family making posts online that I don’t think are pleasant in any way, they’re just victim blaming.

“I just hope they can move on from this. They can see Garner and his supporters for what they are. But they shouldn’t have to do that.”