The giant mastiff that savaged a Jack Russell belonging to the Queen’s son has been spotted wearing a muzzle one week after the sickening attack.
Maud, a two-year-old terrier owned by Tom Parker Bowles, was left fighting for her life after the 10-stone Cane Corso tore into her on Kensington High Street, West London, last Thursday.
Mr Parker Bowles told how he was forced to wrestle the beast on the pavement as it clamped its jaws around Maud’s ‘soft white belly’, shaking her like prey.
He managed to pull her free only after kicking the mastiff ‘in the balls’, before leaping into a taxi to rush her to a vet – so shaken he didn’t even take the handler’s name.
Now just days since the horrifying incident, which was caught on CCTV, the black Italian mastiff has been seen sporting a large muzzle over its sizeable jaws while going for a walk with its handler.
A Daily Mail investigation revealed earlier this week the hulking animal is one of two Cane Corsos kept as protection animals at a £30million mansion in one of Britain’s most expensive streets.
The luxury home belongs to Chinese businesswoman Maria Leung, the glamorous ex-wife of a controversial Chinese mining tycoon.
Local walkers say the hound is well-known in the area as guard dogs kept within the property’s walled garden.
The giant mastiff that savaged a Jack Russell belonging to Tom Parker Bowles has been spotted wearing a muzzle one week after the sickening attack
Photographs taken today near to the exclusive address show the animal with a handler dressed in specialist dog walking gear made by German brand Gappay
Two-year-old terrier Maud, owned by Parker Bowles, was left fighting for her life after the 10-stone Cane Corso tore into her on Kensington High Street
Photographs taken today near to the exclusive address show the animal with a handler dressed in specialist dog walking gear made by German brand Gappay.
Established in 1992, the company offers high-quality, premium dog training equipment and accessories. Its website shows a wide range of bite sleeves, gloves and overalls for handlers, as well as muzzles and collars.
The handler – a slightly-built Chinese man – was spotted with the Cane Corso wearing black overalls from the brand, which retail at just under £200.
He was seen earlier this week on more than one occasion walking the animal involved in the mauling while accompanied by another member of staff. The two individuals are assumed to be staff at the newly renovated house.
When asked about the attack by a reporter, he replied ‘no comment’.
Owner Leung, 56, began her career presenting financial bulletins on Hong Kong television before moving into corporate PR and ultimately into a consultancy role at CST Group – the Cayman-registered mining conglomerate controlled by her billionaire ex-husband Chiu Tao, 70.
Ms Leung Cheuk Chi was also unavailable for comment.
Speaking on the intercom of her white-fronted mansion, a man living in the property told a reporter on Wednesday: ‘She’s not here. I’m sorry, I don’t have the right to say anything.’
Maud is recovering at home from her gruesome injuries after the attack in West London
Land Registry records show she bought the four-storey mansion for £30 million in 2021.
She immediately embarked on an extensive overhaul of the property, digging out a vast new basement to create extra living space and a private swimming pool.
Blueprints seen by the Mail also show a new garden conservatory, a purpose-built garage block with its own vehicular access and a series of structural alterations turning the house into a full luxury compound.
Mr Chiu, who has since remarried, has long been a powerful but controversial presence in Hong Kong’s financial sector, steering a series of aggressive mining acquisitions and repeatedly clashing with minority shareholders.
He was publicly censured by Hong Kong’s stock exchange in 2000 after regulators found his company failed to inform shareholders of a major change to how IPO proceeds were being used, a breach that also triggered sanctions for every director.
His corporate empire has since been marked by restructurings, shareholder rows and a bankruptcy petition later lifted, while CST continued to expand under shifting leadership teams that frequently include his relatives and close associates.
In February this year, the company’s Canadian arm was fined after 1.1 million litres of mine-contaminated wastewater leaked into Alberta’s Smoky River in 2023.
Company filings show CST also owns around £19 million of property in Scotland, generating roughly £1.6 million a year in rent.
Pictured: Chinese businesswoman Maria Leung – who owns the Cane Corso involved
Pictured: The Chinese businesswoman’s home – which she bought for £30million in 2021
One regular dog walker in the area said she knew the cane Corso and avoided it.
She said: ‘We come here every day, all the dog walkers know the dog and we tend to avoid it.’
The dog walker said a Bernese mountain dog also lived at the same house but described it as ‘fine’.
CCTV of the attack shows stunned passers-by watching in horror as Maud yelped off camera while the mastiff tears into her.
Food and restaurant critic Parker Bowles first told of the attack on Maud in an Instagram post last Friday before writing a fuller account, published by the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
Maud had her wounds cleaned and was given antibiotics and painkillers before undergoing surgery at the Village Vet practice in Chiswick.
She then spent two days recovering at another practice in Hammersmith before being allowed home.
Parker Bowles said he was ‘a firm believer that there’s no such thing as a bad dog, rather a bad owner’ and did not want the dog responsible to be put down.
CCTV caught the moment people on High St Kensington watched on in horror at the attack
But he called for restrictions on Cane Corso-style dogs, saying: ‘What I do want, though, is these big, powerful and often beautiful dogs to be muzzled when out in public. Is that too much to ask?’
He added: ‘I don’t want the dog who attacked Maud put down, nor do I want to press charges. Emergency vet care is not cheap, but I’m lucky that Maud is covered by Petplan.
‘I’m certainly not a fan of knee-jerk legislation, of banning certain breeds, or having them destroyed. I’d much rather put the responsibility on the owner.
‘If you cannot control your dogs, or train, walk and look after them properly, then you have no right to own a dog. It’s as simple as that.’
‘These are dogs bred to protect cattle from circling wolves. They are brilliant, evolved killers and completely out of their natural habitat on a Central London high street.
‘I saw what they can do to a small dog. God only knows what they could do to a small child.’
He described how Maud was ‘now on the mend’, but faced ‘a long and painful road to recovery’ and might need further surgery.
Parker Bowles ended his account, saying: ‘If just one potentially dangerous dog is muzzled because of Maud’s horrific attack, she won’t have suffered in vain.’
Writing after the attack, Parker Bowles asked for ‘these big, powerful and often beautiful dogs to be muzzled when out in public’. Pictured: The Queen’s son with Maud
Mr Parker Bowles had to wrestle the beast as it clamped its jaws around Maud’s ‘soft belly’
One eye-witness, who watched the attack unfold outside Ryman’s stationers as he took a cigarette break, said: ‘It was clear that the man walking the larger black dog didn’t have control of the dog properly.
‘The little dog could have easily been torn to shreds. When she was eventually freed her owner scooped her up and hailed a taxi and was gone.
‘The guy walking the larger dog didn’t leave straight away. I challenged him about controlling the dog properly and he didn’t say anything back, he just smirked. I’m glad the smaller dog is on the mend.’
Cane Corsos have increasingly become known as ‘status dogs’ since it was made illegal to own the XL Bully breed in 2023 without an exemption certificate.
People who are permitted to have an XL Bully must muzzle the dog in public by law, but there is currently no legal requirement to muzzle Cane Corsos, despite frequent attacks involving the breed.
In September, Conservative MP Gregory Stafford asked whether the breed should be prohibited under the Dangerous Dogs Act, but the Government said it had no plans to do so.
