Owner of killer dog pack to escape charges: She knew pets were dangerous but legal loophole excludes attacks in the home

The jobless single mother whose four crazed dogs savaged a teenage girl to death is set to escape prosecution.
Bev Concannon, 44, had admitted to friends that even she was wary of her powerfully-built pets, while neighbours were terrified of them and postmen dreaded calling at the house.
But, because the discredited Dangerous Dogs Act only covers attacks on private property if they involve illegal breeds, the mother-of-five probably won’t face court action over the death of 14-year-old Jade Lomas-Anderson.

Jade Lomas-Anderson (left) was mauled by four dogs as she ate lunch at the house of Bev Concannon (right)

Police stress that Miss Concannon is not currently being treated as a suspect and is co-operating with their inquiries.
Vets are conducting tests on the bodies of the four dogs shot by police to establish whether any were outlawed breeds.
However, they are understood to be two Staffordshire bull terriers and two bull mastiffs – breeds which can be legally owned.
A fifth dog, believed to be a shih tzu, was not involved in the attack and was taken away.

Destroyed: A male Staffordshire Bull Terrier (left) and bull mastiff Neo (right)

Put down: Buddy, an American bulldog, was one of the dogs destroyed by armed police

Tuesday’s attack – which friends say erupted after Jade came into the house in Atherton, near Wigan, with a warm meat pie for her lunch – yesterday brought renewed calls for a wider crackdown on irresponsible dog owners.
The animals were notorious among neighbours, but no one is believed to have complained to police or the local council.
Neighbours of Miss Concannon on the Hag Fold estate said they used to keep their children away from her council maisonette.

Dogs: Bull mastiff 'Neo' (left, front left) and American bulldog 'Buddy' (left, white dog), two of Beverley Concannon's dogs said to have savaged Jade. Mrs Concannon last year was selling puppies (right) on Facebook

The back yard of the house where Jade died yesterday

Michael Reid, 41, a father of two daughters, said: ‘When children walked past, the dogs would rush at the fencing or gates with a terrifying snarling and barking.
They were completely wired, very aggressive and very scary. My daughters called them “Devil Dogs”.’
Mr Reid said a bull mastiff called Buddy was ‘the pack leader and the others followed, so when he was aggressive then so were the others’.

Remembering: A candlelight vigil was held for 14-year-old Jade Anderson at Fred Longworth High School in Greater Manchester

A police forensic officer investigates the scene where 14-year-old Jade Anderson was found dead. There was a warning sign on the side of the fence

Another neighbour said the dogs were almost always cooped up in the back garden. ‘Bev hardly ever took them out for a walk,’ he said. ‘They were hyped up because they had nowhere to let off steam.’
Police said neither they nor any other agencies had received complaints from members of the public about the dogs. Postal workers had also expressed concern but hadn’t formally complained.
Neighbours yesterday claimed Miss Concannon lives on incapacity benefit, making some money from breeding dogs through Facebook. 

Jade lived with her family in a nearby house and was a pupil at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley

Tragic: A Facebook photo of Jade Anderson who was found dead at a house in Atherton

The mother of five children by two different fathers was in hiding after being interviewed by police, but relatives said even she had been fearful of one of the mastiffs.
Rocky Fearnley, 39, the father of her 16-year-old twins, Kimberley – whom Jade was visiting – and Katrina, said his ex-partner always ‘took them away’ when people visited.
‘When she got the big bull mastiff, she was always very careful with him around people,’ he said. ‘He looked a scary dog, she was wary of him.’
Mr Fearnley said Miss Concannon had been estranged from her mother, Carol Luby, since childhood. Her mother remarried when she was eight. She is understood to have rowed with her 20-year-old son Anthony, who has moved away and wrote on Facebook that he ‘couldn’t believe’ what his mother’s dogs had done.

Flowers and tributes are laid near the scene where the incident took place yesterday

Police forensics officers arrive to investigate the scene where a 14-year-old girl was found dead amid five aggressive dogs

Police have said it was 'too early to speculate about what took place' at the house in Atherton

Closed: Police cordoned off Chaucer Grove where the body of Jade Anderson was found yesterday

At the family’s previous address, Marjorie Williams, 72, described her as an ‘atrocious neighbour’, adding: ‘Anything that was supposed to be in the bin they would throw over our fence – crisps, rubbish, dirty nappies, you name it.’ 
At another former address in Tyldesley, a mother said she’d stopped her children visiting because Miss Concannon’s dogs would try to ‘get’ them.
Jade’s 36-year-old mother, Shirley, and stepfather, Michael Anderson, 33, posted photographs of themselves with her on Facebook yesterday.

The teenager, who had a 15-year-old brother, lived with them in a semi-detached former council house close to Miss Concannon’s home. 
Jan Garretts, her headmistress at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley, paid tribute to ‘a lively student who always had a smile on her face’.
Caroline Kisko, of the Kennel Club, said Jade’s death ‘highlights how ineffective the current dangerous dogs legislation is’.

DAILYMAIL