He told police his XL bullies were friendly – days later his mother-in-law was mauled to death

When the police visited Ashley Warren's home in Jaywick, Essex, he told them his XL bully dogs were misunderstood, even suggesting they were less vicious than a poodle.

Yet 10 days later, and two days after their ownership became illegal without a certificate of exemption, they mauled his mother-in-law to death.

Esther Martin, 68, had been left in the property with the two dogs, eight puppies and a child while Warren filmed a music video in London on 3 February 2024.

The amateur rapper was alerted to screams coming from his property in Hillman Avenue and demanded "someone that's strong, really strong" went immediately.

But it was too late. Martin suffered "dozens and dozens" of catastrophic bites and was dead within minutes.

Warren, 41, was arrested upon his return to Clacton railway station and became the first person in the UK to be charged with XL bully-related offences.

He has now been found guilty of owning one of the dogs, called Bear, responsible for killing Martin.

He was cleared of being in charge of the other dog, Beauty, which also injured Martin, but belonged to his girlfriend.

Martin travelled from Woodford Green in east London to Warren's house, arriving just before lunchtime on the day she was killed.

Her daughter, Clare, had been in a relationship with Warren for 14 years before she died suddenly in 2021.

Prosecutors at Chelmsford Crown Court said leaving Martin with the dogs was "a tragedy waiting to happen".

The 5ft 3in (1.6m) grandmother had a history of medical complaints and was waiting for a second hip replacement. She also had arthritis and a limp.

She was attacked within a few hours of arriving, and Ring doorbell footage played during the trial captured her screams.

Warren had been well aware of the dogs' power. He was caught on CCTV chasing after Bear after an escape from his house on 31 January 2024.

The video showed him struggling to hold on to Bear, who weighed 47kg (7st 4lb).

The day before, Warren wrote in a message that the animals were "too much for me".

"How did the defendant expect Esther Martin to control the dogs?" prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC asked the jury.

Police had visited Warren's house a week before, where he made several unprompted comments about his XL bullies.

"It's a shame about all the laws and all of that," he told an officer, also lying to say he already had exemption paperwork for Bear, who he bought on Gumtree.

"I'm telling you it's a shame what everyone thinks about them and everything, man, because they are one of the friendliest dogs that I know."

He said having a negative perception of XL bullies was "mad to me" and insisted poodles were "more aggressive".

Giving evidence during the trial, he wept as videos of his 10 dogs were played.

But jurors were told Warren was aware the dogs were too strong even for his girlfriend at the time to walk - and police noted they ignored his instructions during their visit.

Dog behaviour expert Dr Candy D'Sa told the trial Martin suffered level six bites when attacked - ranked as the most serious.

She said Warren's dogs were kept in an "impoverished environment" and had not been walked for four weeks before the incident, making them "incredibly frustrated".

The jury heard Martin was using a broom to stop the puppies fighting when Beauty and Bear knocked her over and attacked.

Such was their ferocity that police feared they would be killed if they entered the house, instead opting to Taser the dogs through a smashed window.

Paxton described there being a vast imbalance of strength between Martin and the dogs' "towering power".

Bear and Beauty were put down at the scene, and the puppies were later destroyed.

Warren, described as an "aspiring rap artist", was recording a music video in London when he heard about the attack.

He published songs after Martin's death, although no direct reference to the incident was made. The impact, however, is evident.

In the first track released in August 2024, he rapped: "So much [explicit] is happening and so much [explicit] has happened.

"But I still can't imagine all the things that have happened, but it feels like yesterday."

Pictures of Warren's XL bully puppies feature in the video during this part of the song.

He also continued posting videos and messages to more than 700 Facebook followers in the build-up to his trial.

One showed a card written to "Ester" (sic), while another revealed he had written "miss you lots xx always x".

While giving evidence, he insisted he could not have predicted "in a million years" his "gentle" dogs killing someone.

Warren told the jury he was "never going to get over" Martin's death.

Warren was also found guilty of possessing a knife when he was arrested after getting a train from London to Clacton-on-Sea.

He had claimed it was a prop from his music video.

He is due to be sentenced on 1 April.

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