Dog owner becomes first woman in Britain to have XL Bully destroyed after rescuing it as puppy
A DOG owner has become the first woman in Britain to be ordered to have her XL Bully destroyed — a year after she rescued it as a pup.
Jodie Fitzpatrick, who claimed she found Bleu abandoned and nursed him back to health, failed to register him with a vet as required by law.
She kept him in a locked room when police officers called at her home to deal with an unrelated matter.
Bleu was seized — just 17 days after new controls on XL Bullys were introduced.
Fitzpatrick said she was on a trip to the seaside when she found six-week-old Bleu wandering the dunes and starving.
The gran, 41, claimed she took him to her home near Liverpool — but as she lived off £300 a month benefits could not afford to register or insure him or have him neutered.
She admitted keeping a fighting dog. Sefton JPs ordered Bleu destroyed.
Fitzpatrick also got a 12-month conditional discharge and must pay £640 costs.
It comes days after Patrick McKeown, 40, of Tarring, West Sussex, became the first person to be prosecuted over an unregistered XL Bully.