French OAP torn apart by dogs

A French pensioner was torn apart by a pack of bull terriers while walking in her local park, police said today.

A French pensioner was torn apart by a pack of bull terriers while walking in her local park, police said today.

Officers who found the 86-year old woman's body said that it was so badly mutilated it was difficult at first to know whether the victim was a man or woman.

The savage attack by a pitbull terrier and four Staffordshire bull terriers, happened yesterday in the village of Tonnay-Charente after the dogs dug their way out of their pen.

The dogs' owners, a 20-year-old man and his 36-year-old mother, have been held by police.

Police said none of the five dogs, which were sent to a compound pending a decision on their fate, was tattooed, registered with the local authorities or sterilised as required by the law.

The attack was the most brutal of a growing number of dog attacks, especially in tough city suburbs.

Last year the French government introduced new curbs on dangerous dog ownership but many people appear to have ignored the changes.