A man was found dead in a garden after being mauled by up to four dogs – two XL bullies and two other hounds – as he visited a relative’s home to feed their pets while they were in hospital, an inquest has heard.
Nicholas Glass, 33, is believed to have been attacked by his brother’s dogs after visiting his sibling’s home in Rednal, near Birmingham, on the night of August 19 last year, before he escaped through a back window, injured, to seek ‘refuge’.
An inquest at Birmingham Coroner’s Court on Thursday heard that West Midlands Police was called in the early hours of August 21 to reports of dogs loose in the street, and after searching the property, found Mr Glass ‘reasonably well hidden’ behind a propped-up fence panel in the garden.
Two of the dogs were seized by police at the time and the remaining pair were found by officers two miles away near Merritts Hill days later following a major search.
At the time, West Midlands Police said tests concluded that two of the dogs were of the XL bully banned breed and neither had a certificate of exemption, while the inquest heard the other two dogs were an American bulldog and a mixed breed Staffordshire cross.
Officers found a large amount of blood inside the house and near an open back window, before officers discovered the body of Mr Glass, who had a number of injuries, in the garden after around an hour.
A post-mortem examination found that Mr Glass, who lived two minutes away from his brother in Chalybeate Close, Rubery, had multiple blunt force injuries including bruises, grazes, puncture wounds and tears caused by dog bites and claws to his arms, feet and legs.
He had also suffered a major injury to his upper left arm which had exposed the bone and the bone had teeth marks on it, the pathologist found.
The cause of death was recorded as blunt force trauma from multiple dog bites.
The last known sighting of Mr Glass alive was at 10.11pm on August 19 when he was seen, with one dog, walking into his brother’s home and dogs could be heard yelping on CCTV.
Faint audio from another CCTV clip taken at 10.35pm that night appeared to suggest a person called for help three times.
