A dog owner has been mauled to death by her two registered XL bullies in the latest tragedy involving the banned breed.

The woman, aged in her 50s, was fatally attacked in Cornwall Close, Hornchurch, east London, just after 1pm on Monday.

Photographs showed a blue forensic tent that had been put up outside her home in the small residential street.

Police said she was pronounced dead at the scene and the two registered dogs were seized after being contained in a room.

From February 1, it became a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.

XL bully dogs
Campaigners protested against the ban before it was brought into force, calling instead for a focus on responsible dog ownership rather than breed (Jacob King/PA)

Anyone who owns one of the dogs must have had the animal neutered, have it microchipped and keep it muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions.

The Government move to ban XL bullies followed a series of attacks.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths due to dog attacks in 2023, a sharp rise from preceding years where the number had been in single figures.

As of late 2023, around 60% of dogs held in police kennels were a bull breed of some kind.

The attack in Hornchurch comes after mother and son Amanda Young, 49, and Lewis Young, 30, were jailed last week after an eight-year-old boy was injured in a “savage and sustained attack” by their XL bully.

The boy suffered extensive injuries to his scalp, face and hands in the attack in the communal area of a block of flats in Wadham Road, Bootle, Merseyside, on February 10.

In March Farhat Ajaz, 61, admitted being the owner of a dangerously out of control XL bully that injured an 11-year-old girl and two men in Birmingham.

And in the same month four men were hurt by a dog suspected to be the banned breed in Battersea, south west London, after which the animal was shot by police.

Dog attack in Jaywick
Esther Martin died in Essex in February (Essex Police/PA)

On February 3, just after the ban came into force, grandmother Esther Martin, 68, suffered unsurvivable wounds in a dog attack at a house in Jaywick in Essex, while visiting her grandson.

She had reportedly tried to break up a fight between two puppies before she was attacked.