I’m haunted by the last image of my son Jack Lis, 10, after he was mauled to death by a dog
THE mum of a ten-year-old boy mauled to death by a dog has revealed she is haunted by the last image she has of him.
was killed by a hulking XL Bully dog named Beast as he played at friend's home in Caerphilly.
The youngster suffered "severe injuries to the head and neck" after the eight-stone attacked him in November 2021.
His mum Emma Whitfield has now opened up about her heartache at her son's final moments.
Speaking to BBC Panorama, she said: "They kept saying that they were working on him, they’re working on him.
"And then the paramedic walked away and came back with a blanket and I knew.
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"I can’t say out loud what else I saw because I don’t want other people to have to picture it either.
"Every time I shut my eyes I try to tell myself: 'That’s not the last image that I’ve got of him'. I try and tell myself it was when he shut the door with his skateboard in his hands."
Jack had been playing with a pal when he went to another friend's home in a neighbouring street.
Once inside, the huge animal savaged the schoolboy leaving him with "unsurvivable" injuries.
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The dog's owners were jailed for a total of seven-and-a-half years.
Beast's previous owner was trying to get rid of the dog just days before the horror amid fears it would attack.
He wrote a plea on a bulldog Facebook page claiming the American pitbull-style animal was "great with people" but "unfortunately does not like other dogs".
The owner said: "I've tried my best with him, I have other dogs and cannot put them at risk.
"He needs someone with time."
He accompanied the post with a picture of the hulking dog baring its rippling muscles.
The dog had only just been taken in by the family of one of Jack's schoolfriends when it viciously mauled the boy.
A day after collecting it from the previous owner, the dog lunged at kids in a horrifying attack outside a shop.
Emma previously told how she constantly asks "why my boy? Why Jack" as she revealed she would have "given my life trying to protect him".
She said: "No mum should ever have the last images of their child as being dragged from a house, knowing deep down they're gone but praying that it isn't so.
"I close my eyes and I see the animal and its teeth. I hear the barking.
"I used to be happy, bubbly, fun but now I am a nervous wreck.
"I'm angry because my child went out to play and didn't come home.
"I am trapped in what used to be our family home. Now it's broken and will never be the same."
BBC Panorama is exploring how organised crime gangs are now moving into the world of extreme dog breeding.
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The show airs on BBC One at 8pm tonight.
