A dog that killed a 10-year-old boy in Caerphilly has been identified as an American bulldog, which is not on the banned breed list, police have said.

Jack Lis was mauled to death at the home of a friend in Pentwyn, Penyrheol, on November 8, and work has been ongoing since then to determine the dog’s breed.

Gwent Police said a dog legislation expert had now completed the identification process.

Chief Superintendent Mark Hobrough said: “The work to identify the breed of dog involved this attack has concluded, with the dog legislation officer’s report classifying the breed as an American bulldog.

“This breed does not feature on the list of banned dogs and is therefore not illegal to own in this country.”

A 28-year-old woman from the Caerphilly area was arrested following the attack on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death, and was later released on conditional bail.

Two men – a 34-year-old from the Mountain Ash area and a 19-year-old from the Caerphilly area – were both released after voluntarily speaking to police over being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control.

A funeral service for Jack was held at St Martin’s Church in Caerphilly last week after a procession of high-end cars, including a silver DeLorean DMC-12 and red Mustang, was led around the town and castle.

In an emotional reading, Jack’s mother Emma Whitfield said: “I spent the last 10 years watching you grow and we got to start seeing you grow into an amazing man.

“My heart aches so bad that we won’t get to see you grow into that incredible man.

“This isn’t goodbye, this is a see you later dude.”