How convicted drug dealers are running businesses selling XL Bullys from behind bars – as rogue breeders share videos of ‘bite work’ sessions using leather sticks, steroids and treadmills to exploit their pet’s aggression

Gangsters and criminals are operating profitable companies breeding harmful American Bully XL canines – with one allegedly overseeing his agency from behind bars.

Drug kingpin Thomas Rayment was serving a six-year jail sentence whereas nonetheless seemingly operating Muscletone Bullys UK, promoting bulked-up Bully puppies.

Rayment, who’s a father, was 30 when he was jailed in February 2021 for operating a ‘prolific’ a heroin and crack cocaine gang in his hometown of Warrington, Cheshire.

However days after being locked up and despatched to Thorn Cross Jail, he appeared to submit on social media promoting certainly one of his prime studs for £4,000. 

He was free of jail on Could 26 of this yr, to serve the rest of his six-year time period on licence – regardless of harassing his ex-girlfriend and sending a person to slash her tyres from inside jail, against the law he obtained a 54-week suspended sentence for. 

The information follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to ban American Bully XL canines from Britain’s streets, as surprising footage revealed how rogue canine house owners are utilizing savage ‘chunk coaching’ strategies to show their animals into deadly weapons.

Rayment’s breeding enterprise was uncovered by a BBC investigation, which claimed he was actively attempting to advertise his canines from behind bars.

Since being free of jail, MailOnline can reveal he has continued promoting his XL bullies, posting in July about one referred to as ‘Nemesis’ and saying: ‘Open for stud – semen shipped worldwide’.

Whereas serving a jail time period, the medication kingpin was incessantly tagged in posts by different outstanding figures within the American Bully community.

An undercover reporter claimed she was despatched images of two excessive American bullies – Brandon ‘Blockhead’ and Kleo – through Fb whereas Rayment was in jail. The pair of canines had just lately had a litter of puppies.  

‘This boned-up Gorilla isn’t any joke he is excessive as they arrive,’ learn the outline of Brandon Blockhead on Rayment’s web site. He has ‘probably the greatest headpieces now we have ever seen all on a brilliant brief compact body’, it added.

The tops of the canines ears had been lower off in an unlawful observe often called ‘cropping’ – which carries a most jail sentence of 5 years. 

The BBC claimed Rayment organised for his or her reporter to fulfill his enterprise companion Ryan Howard at a canine fertility clinic, who later tells the journalist ‘Tom’s not right here as a result of he is in jail’.

Excessive canine breeding is huge enterprise. On the Muscletone Bullys UK web site, pups have beforehand been on sale for tens of 1000’s of kilos. 

In addition to promoting canines bred with grotesquely exaggerated traits – similar to extreme pores and skin folds or massive, muscular frames – the location additionally sells Bully ‘bodybuilder’ dietary supplements to assist bulk up canines. 

Ian Muttitt, a chief inspector with the RSPCA’s Particular Operations Unit, claims over the previous 5 years organised crime gangs have turn into more and more concerned within the excessive canine breeding commerce, with some utilizing the commerce to  launder cash.

Additionally operating a bully breeding programme is violent thug Armani Costello, who was final month jailed for home abuse. 

Costello hurled a TV at her girlfriend whereas she was having a shower and supplied her ‘dangerously uncontrolled’ Bully XL up for breeding on Fb, reported the Liverpool Echo.

The 20-year-old was sentenced to 30 months in a younger offenders’ institute on August 27 after being convicted for the year-long marketing campaign of abuse in opposition to her companion.

She beforehand bragged that her XL Bully had some ‘critical swimmers’ months after it was concerned in a terrifying assault which in opposition to two different canines. 

In a submit on Fb in July final yr, Costello claimed her canine was ‘already confirmed’ as a breeding stud. ‘My boy’s open for stud,’ she wrote. 

‘He is obtained some critical swimmers and he is already confirmed. Letting the primary 3 lock-ins go for £500 or pup again deal to get him began once more.’

The submit additionally included a video from Instagram which appeared to point out the canine’s semen underneath a microscope. Costello’s caption learn: ‘Studding attractive boy out.

‘He is has 236million semen in a single mill. He’s a champagne merl, he carries chocolate and few different, message for extra info.’

It comes as different rogue pet house owners are turning their XL Bully canines into deadly weapons by way of brutal chunk coaching – earlier than sharing the footage on social media. 

Savage movies present how some reckless house owners are lashing their canines with whips or hitting them with sticks to enrage them into mauling their arms, that are protected by padded sleeves. 

Whereas in one other surprising clip, a canine is let unfastened in a kids’s play park and filmed dashing by way of a tunnel designed for toddlers earlier than locking its big jaws on its coach’s arm. 

MailOnline final week revealed how some yard breeders have been utilizing makeshift treadmills to construct up their canine’s health in savage combat camps. Now contemporary claims have emerged that some are even pumping their Bully XLs with steroids.

Metropolis parks, avenue markets and even basketball courts have turn into the coaching floor of selection for some younger, inexperienced trainers – who broadcast their chunk work classes to 1000’s of followers on Instagram and TikTok. 

Others have constructed assault programs in rural areas utilizing caravans, bouncy castles and steel fencing. Disturbing photos have even proven how trainers are instructing their canines to pounce at individuals by way of home windows.

In the meantime, yard breeders have been feeding their canines muscle-building medication and dietary supplements, or protein-rich meals, to bulk out their bullies, in a grotesque social media pattern to create big, highly effective monster pups.

Particulars of the coaching techniques – that are just like the strategies utilized by police forces to show their assault canines – got here as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seeks to ban the breed of XL bullies following a string of lethal assaults. 

Asserting the transfer on Friday, the PM promised to usher in legal guidelines to outlaw the breeding, possession and sale of the animals by the tip of the yr. 

It got here after out-of-control XL bullies killed 52-year-old Ian Value in an horrific assault in Stonnall, Staffordshire, on Thursday, and savaged two kids in separate assaults in close by Birmingham, together with a ten-year-old boy and 11-year-old lady.

Scores of social media accounts seem to advertise ‘chunk coaching’ for Bully XL canines, in a transfer that has been slammed by consultants and different pet house owners.

One video reveals a canine charging in direction of a person in a protecting swimsuit as a small dummy grenade detonates inside a room. In one other clip, a gaggle of males carrying hoodies and balaclavas are instructing one of many animals to sink its tooth into their arms inside their residence.

One of many Bully XL trainers sharing such content material is p.securityk9s. In a video on TikTok, one snarling canine is filmed hooked up to a steel railing, barking, earlier than then launching and biting an individual on the arm. ‘BIG M will put you in your house actual fast,’ the account boasts in a submit. 

One other account, with the username BiteWorkBully, filmed movies of his canines biting in a person carrying in a playground in central London. He stated: ‘We’re engaged on household safety canines! None of my XL bullies chunk kids! I additionally assure that if an assailant assaults you or your loved ones with certainly one of my canines, and so they depart untouched I am going to personally give your a refund.’

Whereas on one other TikTok account, a person is filmed repeatedly slapping his canine within the face, apparently making an attempt to impress it into attacking – all whereas a younger lady performs close by. 

A few of the actions may very well be thought of reliable canine management work for canine competitions or Schutzhund – a canine sport that checks an animal’s monitoring, obedience, and safety abilities. 

However animal consultants have lashed out over among the footage. Rob Alleyne, who’s an professional canine behaviourist with 40 years’ expertise, feared many XL Bully canines have been being ‘skilled as weapons’, with trainers utilizing canine sports activities and safety as a entrance. 

He instructed The Instances: ‘There are two factions. Accountable house owners who like huge canines and can get licences and can go to canine coaching lessons — and the opposite group who need it as a standing image and see possession as a approach to maintain off the police who attempt to break in, or to show different criminals to not mess with them.’

Mr Alleyne claimed he was conscious of many circumstances the place canines got steroids to ‘muscle them up’ and ‘make them extra intimidating’. 

‘What these persons are on the lookout for is a canine you will not mess with. They need it to look disproportionate, they need it to look big,’ he stated. ‘One man I spoke to was feeding his canine blood from his native butcher as a result of he believed that might give it a style for blood.’ 

Talking on Friday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated he was working urgently on banning the Bully XL canines and clamping down on reckless house owners.

In a video assertion on X, previously often called Twitter, the PM stated: ‘The American XL bully canine is a hazard to our communities, significantly our youngsters.

‘I share the nation’s horror on the latest movies we have all seen. Yesterday we noticed one other suspected XL bully canine assault, which has tragically led to a fatality.

‘It’s clear this isn’t a couple of handful of badly skilled canines, it is a sample of behaviour and it can’t go on.

‘Whereas house owners have already got a accountability to maintain their canines underneath management, I need to reassure folks that we’re urgently engaged on methods to cease these assaults and defend the general public.’

Information of the ban prompted a livid response from XL Bully lovers, who stated coaching by irresponsible house owners shouldn’t result in all the breed being outlawed, with greater than 513,000 signing a petition urging the Authorities to not ban the canines.

Ashley Irvin, 32, owns seven Bully XLs together with one rescued from a canine combating ring in Romania, stated outlawing the breed would not cease the bloodshed. 

Father-of-one Ashley, who runs a plastering and adorning enterprise in Hull alongside his East Hullbullyz breeding operation, blamed ‘irresponsible backstreet breeders’ for the latest assaults – as he branded them ‘evil’.

Defending the animals, he insisted it was not the canine’s fault for the variety of deadly assaults however extra the ‘irresponsible’ house owners and breeders. 

‘The latest assaults are all due to these fool children who let their canines dangle off bushes for chunk coaching,’ fumed Ashley, who stated he does not breed his animals for the money however extra for ‘the love’ of the breed. 

‘You should not be instructing the canines this, It is unsuitable. However I see it on a regular basis. It actually p***es me off. It provides the canines such a nasty title. 

‘These persons are evil. They need to all be prosecuted. They’re coaching these canines to kill. There must be some justice on that. It is disgusting. 

‘It is not the canine’s fault. It is the house owners that aren’t taking the accountability. A gun by itself is not harmful, it is the one that pulls the set off whose harmful.’

Ashley, who has grown up with bulldogs, says he keep away from strolling his animals within the streets, taking them to a personal subject as an alternative. 

He claimed he solely sells his puppies to individuals he is aware of as a approach of vetting these searching for to personal one of many breed. 

‘I do not need to put them within the unsuitable fingers,’ he stated. ‘I’ve one who was two. He was introduced up the unsuitable approach. I rescued him from Romania. I’ve to maintain him muzzled. That is referred to as being a accountable proprietor.’

Ashley stated an official system to licence the canines could be simpler than an outright ban. 

He added he was now involved concerning the impression of the potential change within the legislation on the XL Bully and what that might imply for his ‘loyal and loving’ pets. 

‘My canines are beautiful. We have now a unique bully getting into mattress with my eight-year-old son each single evening. He loves it. It is like emotional assist for him. He loves the Bullys. He can simply really feel the love,’ he stated. 

Kaylee Hankins, 32, claimed her 16-month-old Bully Isla was beloved by locals in Cotswolds market city Minchinhampton.

And he or she stated the household pet is adored by sons Harley, seven, and Leo, 14, who cuddle up together with her on the couch each morning. 

Describing Isla as an ‘amazingly loyal household companion’, she instructed how the animal was pounced on by an off-lead Jack Russell a couple of months in the past. 

The tiny terrier hit into the XL Bully at full velocity, inflicting her to tumble to the bottom. She cowered down petrified because it barked, and did not retaliate.

Magnificence therapist Kaylee hit out at irresponsible house owners, who ‘let a tremendous breed down’ by coaching them to be aggressive or failing to coach them in any respect.

The federal government introduced final week it might be taking steps to ban American XL bullys.

Kaylee stated stated: ‘I’ve heard of individuals utilizing progress hormones to get them larger, cross-breeding them with larger breeds and coaching them to be aggressive as a result of they need the picture of an enormous scary canine.

‘However they aren’t scary. They get into the unsuitable fingers; I really feel like some house owners have let a tremendous breed down.

‘It is terrible for the victims that suffered within the assaults of XL bullys, however once more, these canines have been improperly skilled by careless house owners.’

Kaylee stated Isla was ‘very simple to coach’ and has never proven a touch of aggression.

She stated: ‘Harley was residence on a regular basis once we obtained Isla as a pet. They’re finest buddies now.

‘As quickly as he comes down within the morning, they cuddle up on the couch collectively – they’re fairly inseparable.

‘She comes on the college run on daily basis and is greeted by all kinds of canines and folks of all ages.

‘Everybody round right here adores her – she’s just like the well-known canine of Minchinhampton. If I’ve not obtained her with me, all of them ask the place she is.

‘We have even had individuals cease their vehicles and bounce out to see her, individuals we do not know.

‘The postman knocks on the door simply to say hey to her, even when he does not have any submit for us. Isla loves him.

‘Leo typically takes Isla out on his personal and takes care of her all day – he is good as gold together with her.’

Kaylee does not assist the federal government’s proposed ban on XL bully canines – however says she would assist a licencing system. She stated: ‘I do not imagine banning the breed will work, individuals will work across the legislation.

‘I might be pleased to get her assessed and get a licence.

‘I feel it is merciless to class my canine as a harmful canine when she’s not a harmful canine.

‘You’ll be placing my canine into the identical class as killer canines – when she’s removed from it. She is an amazingly loyal household companion.

‘In the event that they ban her, she’ll must put on a muzzle out in public and it’ll give the impression she’s a harmful canine when she’s not.’

Supporters of the ban say it will likely be laborious to make use of to clamp down on criminals and rogue breeders.  

Doug Smith, a spokesperson for marketing campaign group BullyWatch UK – which has been documenting reported assaults by the breed – feared Mr Sunak’s transfer will not cease the circulation of lethal animals from reaching Britain’s streets.

Mr Smith stated many if the large corporations have already purchased ‘high-grade gear’ to for canine breeding and spent ‘important quantities of money on kennels’.

‘They’ve all that infrastructure in place for the mass breeding of canines,’ warned Mr Smith.

‘The ban is unquestionably the proper step ahead. However now we have to crack down laborious on these people breeding these canines. That is the one approach to actually cease this. ‘

Mr Smith continued: ‘The ban will make a large distinction in lowering yard breeders of the Bully XLs however I feel there might be some already closely concerned in breeding who will to tinker alongside on the aspect strains.

‘Yard breeding on this nation is a shame and these breeders should be worn out. This is the reason we’re on this mess.’

Stan Rawlinson, who has greater than 20 years of expertise working with aggressive animals, and was referred to as as an professional witness for the 1991 Harmful Canine Act, stated the PM’s ban would ‘do nothing’.

Mr Rawlinson, who’s a canine behaviourist, claimed it might be too tough to evaluate whether or not a canine is a real XL Bully because the animals are a ‘mongrel breed’.

As a substitute, he claimed Britain must be taking a look at extra stringent licensing guidelines and tightening up laws and background checks on these searching for to personal the canines – and that each one Bully XLs have to be neutered.

‘What we actually have to do is go for the serpent’s head,’ he instructed MailOnline. ‘We have to hold information.

‘Anybody desirous to personal certainly one of these canines has obtained to have a licence, proof of ID, no legal convictions, proof of being mentally and bodily able to taking care of certainly one of these animals. And we there must be an insurance coverage contract for the canine with legal responsibility of half one million kilos.

‘Banning the canine won’t have the anticipated impact… It is unimaginable to cease drug sellers breeding these canines.’