Birmingham XL Bully attack: Man mauled to death by pack of dogs after act of kindness

A man was brutally mauled to death by a pack of including two he was looking after as a favour to his brother, an inquest heard. Nicholas Glass was savaged by the dogs at a property in the Rubery area of Birmingham last year, and died after sustaining multiple fatal bites.

The 33-year-old's body was not found until a day later in the back garden of the property on August 21. An inquest at Birmingham Coroners Court set up to explore the circumstances of Mr Glass' death heard he had likely escaped from the window of the property.

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But he bled to death before he was able to reach safety, and was found with a series of gruesome injuries including a severe wound to his left eye and puncture marks to his feet and legs. The inquest heard that police were alerted to the incident after the pack of four dogs started roaming the area near to where his brother lived.

Adam Hodson, the Assistant Coroner, said police received a call in the early hours of the morning on August 21 to say a number of dogs were roaming loose in Hereford Close. The four dogs had come from a property belonging to Mr Glass's brother, James, who was in hospital at the time.

Mr Glass had offered to look after them while he was recovering in hospital. Authorities were able to secure two of the animals after being called to the scene, and the remaining two were found by police after several days of roaming the neighbourhood. Police confirmed the breeds as being two XL Bullies, an American bulldog and a mixed breed Staffordshire terrier.

Mr Glass was found in the rear garden of the property following the shock attack, with his body partly obscured by a wooden panel which had been propped up. Coroners ruled he died as a result of blunt force trauma from multiple dog bites, but were unable to confirm which dogs had carried out the attack.

Mr Hodson said: "Following his death inquiries were made with his brother, James, who owned the dogs. James was in hospital and Nicholas Glass had offered to look after his brother's dogs." The assistant coroner said CCTV footage had shown Mr Glass going into the property and that barking was heard.

He added: "I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Nicholas was bitten by more than one of his brother's dogs. There is no evidence as to which breed of dog was responsible."

He said it was possible that Mr Glass had been attacked in the property, left via a window and hid behind a fence panel before "succumbing to his injuries".

He added: "This appears to have been a terrible tragedy. It appears to me that Nicholas was a caring brother and son who simply offered to look after his brother's dogs while his brother was in hospital. He sadly lost his life as a terrible consequence."