A DOG owner has been charged with using his XL Bully "as a weapon" to maul a teenage girl in a horror attack.
Phillip Whiteside, 32, is accused of setting his dog Hercules on the 16-year-old victim in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Manchester, in December 2021.
The girl suffered injuries to her arm after she was bitten by the XL Bully.
Whiteside appeared at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday charged with being the owner/person in charge of a dog dangerously out of control.
Abbie Clarke, prosecuting, told the court: "The defendant told his dog to attack the complainant in this case so the Crown would put this as high culpability.
"The dog was used as a weapon."
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Whiteside, of Ashton-Under-Lyne, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
He will now face trial and was bailed to appear at a pre-trial hearing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on November 6.
His court appearance came just a day before Ian Langley, 54, was savaged to death by an XL Bully in Sunderland.
It's understood the dog attacked Mr Langley after he moved to protect his pet Beau, who survived.
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The owner was arrested on suspicion of murder after Mr Langley became the sixth fatality by an XL Bully so far this year.
The tragedy comes just weeks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to ban the breed after a series of horrific attacks.
It arrived in the UK less than ten years ago but is now responsible for more than half of all fatal dog attacks on people.
Rish Sunak last month confirmed the government is working with experts to ban XL Bully dogs by the end of the year.
The Prime Minister described the dogs as “a danger to our communities".
But Sir Robert Goodwill, chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said he should consider a faster action – including a "general cull".
In response, XL Bully owners marched through London last weekend to protest against the ban, but were encouraged to leave their dogs at home.
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