Sean Garner’s mum’s dogs faced destruction orders before successful appeals in Merseyside’s magistrates’ court
06:00, 12 Apr 2026
Pictured – Sean Garner and his XL bully Toretto, responsible for the death of John McColl in Warrington in February 2025(Image: Liverpool ECHO / Cheshire Constabulary / Marianna Longo)
The mum of a man whose XL bully killed a pensioner previously appeared in court for owning two fighting dogs called Pablo and Carrie. Sean Garner’s XL bully “savaged” and killed 84-year-old John McColl after the “confused” pensioner mistakenly entered the owner’s driveway on his way home from a Warrington pub on February 24, 2025.
The bully dog “family pet”, named after Vin Diesel’s Fast and Furious character Dominic Toretto, “guarded” the elderly victim “as if he were its prey or food”. Responding police officers were forced to shoot the dog 10 times, including with a shotgun.
Garner, 31, and of Dinaro Close in Belle Vale, was said to have “made jokes” in Facebook voice notes, while his family WhatsApp group chat offered suggestions about what he should tell the police. Garner would claim to police that Toretto and a second XL bully, Malibu, were American bullies and that was why they had not been registered.
Since February 1, 2024 it has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully in England and Wales without a valid certificate of exemption. Police can seize unregistered prohibited dogs, and their owners face up to six months in jail and/or an unlimited fine. If the dog is deemed to be dangerously out of control, it can also be ordered to be destroyed.
The ECHO can now reveal that Garner’s mum has previously been prosecuted for possession of unregistered XL bully dogs.
The 54-year-old mum, of Keybank Road in West Derby, the address her son was initially registered at when he was first charged by the police, has appeared on magistrates’ court lists under the name Maureen McGrain and Carrington, as well as Garner.
According to court documents, McGrain was charged with having custody of a fighting dog, an XL bully called Pablo, and being the owner in charge of a dog dangerously out of control following an incident on Town Row in West Derby September 24, 2024. The ECHO understands she pleaded guilty on October 21 of the same year.
But the case was returned to Wirral Magistrates’ Court in March 5, 2025 following an application to reopen the case. The ECHO understands the hearing was for a contingent destruction order, which would have resulted in the dog Pablo being killed, to be removed.
This means that McGrain would have obtained a certificate of exemption, which includes a list of requirements an owner must follow, within two months of the order being made on January 29, 2025. A court spokesperson said the costs and fine remained in place.
McGrain would return to court in April of the same year after being charged again with having custody of a fighting dog, an XL bully called Carrie. According to the particulars of the charge, the dog was recovered from her address on Keybank Road. The ECHO understands an exemption certificate was issued following an appeal on May 23 of that year and the dog was returned five days later.
Toretto, the XL bully that killed 84-year-old John McColl (left), and another XL bully called Malibu (right) were shot dead at the scene(Image: Cheshire Police / SWNS)
McGrain’s appearances in court in the months before and soon after the attack on Mr McColl highlight the family’s flaunting of the XL bully laws, which were put in place following a devastating spate of deaths involving the dog breed. A source told the ECHO: “She was fully aware of the law and legislation concerning XL bullies and the fact that Sean’s dogs were not registered.”
During Sean Garner’s trial jurors were shown a series of messages concerning the dog which he had exchanged with his family. On one occasion in March 2024 his mum told him: “No, he only caught me last time. I was ready this time. He gets so excited. Always had something for him, so he calmed down.”
Referring to the dog that would go on to kill, Garner then replied “yeah, defo missing a few nuts and bolts like, isn’t he?”. When his mother stated that the dog had “got a big stick and ravished it”, he added: “Yeah, he gets too obsessed with s*** like that. Why I know he’d fight with Malibu. Over a stick or something daft like that.”
Having described Malibu, his other XL bully, as a “boss dog”, Garner said of her: “Deserves a good life inside. To (Toretto) on the other hand needs to stop being a stink ha ha ha.”
On the day of the attack, after Cheshire Constabulary contacted Garner to say there had been a serious incident involving his dog, Garner sent a voice note to the group “Fambo” saying “get my mum to phone me, anyone in the chat, ASAP. There’s all police at my house over the f*** dogs”.
McGrain messaged: “Say they’re Lauren’s dogs. She’ll get off with a fine and you’ll go back to jail.” A contact saved in his phone as “R Steph”, his sister, sent further messages saying: “I’d say you’re minding whatever dogs done it for your mate who’s gone Thailand. Don’t know who you would say though.”
Sean Garner, the owner of an XL bully which savaged a pensioner, was found guilty at Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Cheshire Police/PA Wire )
Garner’s trial heard that the Crown Prosecution Service had “seriously considered” criminal proceedings against members of the defendant’s family who “encouraged him to lie about the circumstances”, although, ultimately, “a decision was taken not to charge those individuals”.
The ECHO reported earlier this week how Lauren Lawler, Garner’s partner, said her life had been “ruined” thanks to the actions of the victim who was mauled and ultimately killed by Toretto. In a Facebook rant she said “(her) dogs would still be alive now” if Mr McColl “didn’t take it upon himself to go into (her) garden”.
In a series of public posts “liked” hundreds of times on Facebook, she raged: “The police and this government are the biggest load of vile corrupt people I’ve ever come across.” Sharing pictures of Toretto and Malibu, who was also shot dead by police officers responding to the incident, she said: “That poor man didn’t deserve to die but my dogs were never ever once mistreated or under fed! And my dogs would still be alive now if he didn’t take it upon himself to go into my garden and shed!”
Unregistered Toretto, who weighed 7st 4lb and had cropped ears, an illegal practice described as a “mutilation”, was found to have only “numerous fragments of human remains” and “small bits of plastic” in its stomach, indicating he was starved. But Garner remained steadfast in his denials that he was more than a fit and proper down owner, telling the court how he used to collect semen at a dog fertility clinic to “ensure they had enough swimmers to breed”.
He told the court: “My mum owned bull breeds from when I was growing up. As soon as I moved out, the first thing I done was buy a bull breed dog. That’s when I was 17. I’ve owned a dog all the time, since I was 17 to the present day. I used to breed dogs. To be honest, dogs were my hobby. The dogs were my life.”
John McColl died of his injuries over a month after the attack(Image: Cheshire Police)
But despite the fact Malibu and Toretto had three litters of puppies and he promoted the latter on his now defunct Instagram page “Little and Large Bullies”, Garner maintained he had been unaware that either were XL bullies. Ahead of his trial he admitted possessing the banned male dog and a female of the same breed without an exemption certificate.
Mr McColl died of his injuries in hospital on March 30, 2025. Following Garner’s conviction, Detective Inspector Simon Mills, from Cheshire Constabulary’s major investigations team, said: “The injuries sustained by John were absolutely horrific and left him unrecognisable to friends and family.
“Yet despite his injuries, he fought hard to survive as long as possible. I cannot begin to imagine the amount of pain and suffering he must have endured. I would also like to take this as an opportunity to thank all those who provided help and assistance to John, including the members of the public, officers and medical staff, all of whom fought hard to save him.
“Many of those who attended described the attack as one of the most traumatising incidents that they have ever dealt with. John was a kind and generous dad, grandad, and great grandad who was well liked by all those who knew him. If anything can be achieved by his death, I hope that it acts as a reminder about the dangers of XL bullies to ensure that nobody else has to go through the pain and suffering that his family have endured over the past year.”
Garner will return to Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, April 17 to be sentenced.
