Senior Coroner for Essex Lincoln Brookes told the hearing that Ms Martin suffered an "extraordinary, tragic death".
He suspended the inquest at the request of Essex Police for three months while the force continued its criminal investigation.
Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Coroner's officer Andy Flack told the hearing police were called to a disturbance at an address Ms Martin was staying at in Hillman Avenue at 16:00 GMT.
"She was discovered in the property along with two large dogs. She was unresponsive and her injuries were unsurvivable."
Mr Flack said the grandmother, from Woodford Green in London, was pronounced dead at 16:47.
A post-mortem examination gave her provisional cause of death as a dog bite to her upper right limb.
Richard Knights/BBC
Following the inquest, Ms Martin's family asked people to "hold her memory in their hearts" in a statement provided to the BBC.
"As a family we would like to thank everyone for their support following the tragic loss of our mother, Esther Martin," they said.
"As a family we are finding her loss unbearable."
What are XL bully dogs and what is the law?
An XL bully is the largest kind of American bully dog. Other types include standard, pocket and classic.
The government described them as large dogs "with a muscular body and blocky head, suggesting great strength and power for [their] size".
In England and Wales, the breed has been added to the list of dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. It means breeding, selling or abandoning them is illegal.
Wales is being hit by more wind and heavy rain on Thursday morning with another Met Office warning in place. At 11am, Natural Resources Wales had one flood warnings and 37 flood alerts already in place with more heavy rain forecast for during the day.
The warning is on the River Towy between Llandeilo and Abergwili. Earlier flood warnings on the rivers Dulais, Ely, Taff, Erch, Cadoxton, Rhondda and Loughor have been lifted. The 37 flood alerts are in place across Wales and can be found here.
South Wales Police issued a warning as roads became submerged in standing water. The force said: "Due to the weather conditions this morning across South Wales, we are receiving reports of a lot of surface water on a number of main roads including the M4. Please take care when driving and allow extra time for your journey."
A yellow warning for rain is in place parts of Wales until 2pm today. It says: "A band of heavy rain and squally winds will move east across South Wales and southwest England early on Thursday morning, with further heavy rain at times until early afternoon. Some places will see 10-15 mm of rain within two hours and a few places could have 20-30 mm of rain during the period of the warning."
The areas covered by the warning are: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan.
The Met Office forecast for the whole of Wales today says: "Bands of showers sweeping eastwards, these often heavy with perhaps the odd thunderstorm and some hill snow possible. Some sunny spells by the afternoon. Turning colder with temperatures much lower than of late. Gusty winds. Maximum temperature 7 °C."
Dozens also signed a vote of no confidence against him.
Members on both sides left the chamber in anger after Sir Lindsay Hoyle allowed amendments from the government and Labour on the SNP’s motion calling for “an immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war, which has cost more than 29,000 lives according to the Gaza health ministry.
This broke convention in which only the government’s amendment should have been debated and voted on.
In a night of extraordinary drama in Westminster, the speaker’s decision prompted howls of protest from MPs and shouts of “bring back Bercow” – referring to his controversial predecessor, John Bercow.
He was then forced to return to the Commons to issue a grovelling apology for the mayhem, which was thwarted by shouts of “resign” from MPs on both sides of the House.
Conservative Party and SNP MPs leave the chamber on Wednesday evening
(Parliament TV)
The evening descended into chaos after Sir Lindsay ruled that the Commons should vote first on Labour’s call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” before moving on to the SNP’s original motion, and then finally onto the government’s proposals if either of the first two failed to garner enough support.
Both Tory and SNP MPs walked out, leaving Labour’s amendment to pass unopposed.
Commons Leader and Tory MP Penny Mordaunt accused the speaker of hijacking the debate and undermining the confidence of the House by selecting Labour’s amendment.
She said he had “raised temperatures” and put MPs in a “more difficult position”.
Sir Lindsay had been warned by House of Commons clerk Tom Goldsmith about the unprecedented nature of his decision before his clash with MPs, the senior official saying he felt “compelled to point out that long-established conventions are not being followed in this case”.
The speaker now faces a no-confidence motion, which was gathering support from both Conservative and SNP members across the House.
Proposed by Tory MP William Wragg, it had been signed by 33 Tory and SNP MPs late on Wednesday evening.
Sir Lindsay tried to quell the fury of MPs by telling the Commons: “I thought I was doing the right thing and the best thing, and I regret it, and I apologise for how it’s ended up.
“I do take responsibility for my actions, and that’s why I want to meet with the key players who have been involved.”
Sir Lindsay announces his decision on amendments to the SNP’s Gaza ceasefire motion
But his efforts were jeered, and Mr Wragg claimed ministers had approached him saying they wanted to sign his no confidence motion.
Shadow Commons leader Lucy Powell said the government does not have the numbers for a majority on their motion, as she defended Sir Lindsay.
She told MPs: “Last time I looked, the government benches had a majority in this House, so if they don’t like the amendments that are before them, they could vote this evening to defeat those amendments.
“But they have decided now not to, I understand, vote in those debates. So perhaps we have to ask the question whether or not they do still command a majority in this House this evening, or whether they are trying to hide behind some other reason?”
Suggestions that the speaker had been influenced by threats from senior Labour figures to call their amendment were wrong, insisted deputy speaker Dame Rosie Winterton.
Conservative MP Philip Davies referred to a tweet claiming the speaker had been warned Labour would “bring him down” after the general election unless he called their Gaza amendment.
Amid shouts of “shocking” and jeers from Tory MPs, Mr Davis added: “Can you assure the house that everything will be done to identify who it was that put that intolerable pressure on the House of Commons speaker?”
Dame Rosie replied: “That tweet is wrong and the statement is incorrect.”
As the Commons descended into farce, Conservative former ministers were among those MPs suggesting the votes in the Gaza debate should be run again.
Trying to explain his actions by trying to allow all three amendments, Sir Lindsay said: “Today’s debate was exceptional in its intensity with which all parties wished to secure a vote.”
He said he had taken his decision with the right intentions to allow as many MPs as possible to express their view.
People with Palestinian flags queued to get into parliament for the Gaza vote
(Getty Images)
“I wanted to do the best, and it was my wish to do the best by every member of this House.”
He went on: “I was very concerned, I am still concerned... about the security of members, their families and the people that are involved.
“I am, and I regret with my sadness, that it’s ended up in this position. That was never my intention for it to end like this. I was absolutely convinced that the decision was done with the right intentions.”
Helen McEachern, chief executive of Care International UK, said she was dismayed by the “political theatrics” over parliamentary procedure that did nothing to help the people of Gaza.
“Without an immediate sustained ceasefire, they will not receive the food, water and medical supplies needed to save lives and prevent further injuries,” she said.
Sir Keir Starmer defended his party’s amendment, saying it was intended to unite parliament and “speak with one voice on the horrendous situation in Gaza and Israel”.
He insisted it was a “serious plan for such an incredibly serious situation” and accused the other parties of playing politics.
“Unfortunately, the Conservatives and the SNP decided to walk out hand in hand, refusing to vote on this serious matter, yet again choosing political games over serious solutions.”
Then, 56 Labour MPs rebelled and 10 frontbenchers resigned or were sacked after voting for a previous SNP ceasefire motion. But this week, the language from Washington and other Israeli allies in favour of a truce has dramatically hardened, giving Sir Keir more room for manoeuvre, and the Speaker’s ruling will be a huge relief.
The test firing of a Trident missile from a Royal Navy submarine has failed, for the second time in a row.
The latest test of the UK's nuclear deterrent was from HMS Vanguard and was witnessed by the defence secretary.
The missile's booster rockets failed and it landed in the sea close to the launch site, according to the Sun, which first reported the malfunction.
When on patrol missiles would usually carry nuclear warheads but they are not fitted for test fires.
The Ministry of Defence said the "nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective".
This is highly embarrassing for both the UK and the US manufacturer of the Trident missile.
British tests of Trident missiles are rare, not least because of the costs. The price tag of each missile is around £17m and the last test was in 2016 when it also ended in failure when the missile veered off course.
Both the Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and the head of the Navy were on board HMS Vanguard off the east coast of the US when it fired the unarmed test missile in January.
The submarine had just had a more than seven year refit.
A defence source close to the Mr Shapps insisted the Trident "could absolutely fire in a real world situation" if it needed to.
"The issue that occurred during the test was specific to the event and would not have occurred during a live armed fire," the source said.
A written ministerial statement is expected from Mr Shapps later.
The missile was supposed to have flown several thousand miles before landing harmlessly in the Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa. Instead it dropped into the ocean near to where it was launched.
At the time of the failed 2016 test, the Sunday Times reported that it was launched from HMS Vengeance off the coast of Florida.
The paper said the Trident II D5 missile was intended to be fired 3,700 miles (5,954 km) to a sea target off the west coast of Africa but veered towards the US.
The cause of what went wrong remains top secret, the paper reported, but quoted a senior naval source as saying the missile suffered an in-flight malfunction after launching out of the water.
ROYAL NAVY
The Labour Party has called for assurances over the effectiveness of the nuclear deterrent.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: "Reports of a Trident test failure are concerning.
"The defence secretary will want to reassure Parliament that this test has no impact on the effectiveness of the UK's deterrent operations."
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) described it as an expensive failure following a reported £500m refit.
"We need to stop wasting our money on this," the group said who campaign to get rid of nuclear weapons in Britain and worldwide.
In a statement the Ministry of Defence admitted an anomaly had occurred in the most recent launch. But it also said that HMS Vanguard and its crew had been "proven fully capable" in their operations and the test had "reaffirmed the effectiveness of the UK's nuclear deterrent".
The statement added that Trident was the "most reliable weapons system in the world" having completed more than 190 successful tests.
HMS Vanguard is one of four of the Vanguard-class nuclear submarines that have been on patrol in 1994, with one of the vessels continually at sea.
The submarines are based at Faslane Royal Navy base on the Firth of Clyde and carry US-built Trident 2 D5 missiles, while the nuclear warheads are stored at the nearby Coulport armaments depot on Loch Long.
Annual running costs are estimated at 6% of the defence budget - around £3bn for 2023/24, according to the House of Commons Library.
The V-class is due to be replaced by the bigger Dreadnought-class submarines in the 2030s.
Between £31bn and £41bn has been put aside for the wider programme of replacing the Vanguard-class submarines, the House of Commons Library said.
The two-day hearing comes after a judge ruled in January 2021 that Assange should not be sent to the US, given a real risk of suicide while ruling against him on all other issues.
However, this was successfully challenged by US authorities, which would have resulted in his extradition. Assange, who is currently based in HMP Belmarsh in south-east London, is now asking for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case.
Assange misses first day of hearing due to illness
Julian Assange missed the first day of his extradition hearing on Tuesday due to illness, his lawyer said.
Assange, 51, has been held in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison for almost five years while US authorities seek to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges linked to the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.
Lawyers for deeply controversial figure Assange will now ask for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case against extradition in the two-day hearing.
The barrister said at the outset of the hearing on Tuesday that the Wikileaks founder is not attending the hearing as he is unwell.
It comes after his brother, Gabriel Shipton, told TalkTV that Assange’s health was “delicate” and “deteriorating” ahead of the hearing.
US bid to prosecute Julian Assange is ‘state retaliation’, court told
The United States’ bid to prosecute Julian Assange is “state retaliation”, the High Court has heard in his final bid for an appeal in the UK.
The WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
Julian Assange’s brother says WikiLeaks founder is ‘suffering’ with health ‘deteriorating’ in prison
Julian Assange’s brother has said the WikiLeaks founder’s health is deteriorating in Belmarsh Prison as he prepares to face his final bid for appeal against extradition to the US.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.
Julian Assange’s wife appeared to compare her husband to Russian politician and Putin critic Alexei Navalny, whose death was announced last week as he served a sentence in a remote Arctic prison. The WikiLeaks founder, who has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison, is appealing against extradition to the US where he faces charges of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after the publication of intelligence files on the website. “Political prisoners die in prison. That’s what happens. We’ve seen it just last week with what happened to Navalny, and what happened to Navalny could happen to Julian,” Stella Assange said on Tuesday (20 February).
Assange founded the website WikiLeaks in 2006. Using his computing skills, he created an online platform for people to anonymously submit classified leaks such as documents and videos.
Since its birth it has released around 10 million classified documents, including files on US military activities in the US.
It rose to prominence in April 2010 when it published a classified video showing a 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq’s capital Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists.
On the Afghanistan war, it’s claimed more than 90,000 classified US military documents were released and on the invasion of Iraq around 400,000 confidential US files.
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
The leaks, described as the largest security breaches of their kind in US military history, angered and embarrassed US politicians and military officials who claimed the disclosure put lives at risk.
But defenders of the website say it reveals unreported incidents including the killing of civilians.
Letters: The treatment of Julian Assange could be the end of democracy
If Julian Assange is extradited to America, that will be the end of democracy in Britain. Assange has done nothing wrong; we should all be very grateful for his exposure of the murderous actions of American troops.
America, in my opinion, does not have a justice system, it has a legal system designed purely for the enrichment of the legal profession. I have more respect for the “oldest profession” than I do for the legal profession. It should never be a question of whether it is legal or illegal, it should be a question of whether it is right or is it wrong.
Lawyer for the US says Assange put ‘safety of individuals at serious risk'
James Lewis KC, for the US, said in written submissions that Assange’s conduct is “consistently and repeatedly misrepresented” in the appeal bid.
The barrister described the amount of classified material provided to Assange as “unprecedented”, adding: “The appellant threatened damage to the strategic and national security interests of the United States and put the safety of individuals at serious risk.”
Mr Lewis, who is expected to make oral arguments on behalf of the US on Wednesday, added that the original judge ruled Assange was not being prosecuted for political reasons but “because he is alleged to have committed serious criminal offences”.
Julian Assange is fighting against extradition to the United States (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
“This decision is unimpeachable and there is no error to show that the district judge got it wrong,” he continued.
He added that it was “simply not credible” that a journalist would be immune from criminal prosecution in these circumstances.
Assange supporters describe hearing as ‘most important freedom of speech case in the 21st century’
One speaker on a stage outside the Royal Courts of Justice welcomed protesters to the “most important freedom of speech case in the 21st century”.
He was greeted with cheers and claps from the crowd of protesters. Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, then took to the stage.
He said: “Be under no illusions, if this prosecution is successful, other vital cases will never come to light.”
“Free Julian Assange, support journalism and safeguard free speech,” he finished, to claps and cheers from the audience.
David Neal "lost the confidence of the home secretary"
Home Secretary James Cleverly has sacked the government's immigration watchdog after details of critical reports appeared in newspapers.
The Home Office said David Neal had "breached the terms" of his role and leaked confidential information.
Mr Neal was quoted in The Daily Mail about security checks on private jets.
Meanwhile, sources close to him said he was responsible for details of another unpublished report about visas for care workers appearing in The Times.
The comments made by Mr Neal in the Mail triggered an urgent question in Parliament on Tuesday, with immigration minister Tom Pursglove telling the Commons the Home Office "categorically" rejected claims that hundreds of high-risk flights had landed in the UK without security checks.
Mr Neal told the paper he had seen Home Office data suggesting that 21% of private jets classified as high risk, which came into London City Airport, were inspected by immigration officials last year.
"This is a scandal, and incredibly dangerous for this country's border security", he was quoted as saying.
But Mr Pursglove said UK Border Force performed checks on "100% of scheduled passengers arriving in the UK and risk-based intelligence-led checks on general aviation".
He added that an issue with the data meant some flights had been classified as high-risk when they should have been low-risk.
He described it as "deeply disturbing that information which has no basis in fact was leaked by the independent chief inspector to a national newspaper before the Home Office had the chance to respond".
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We have terminated the appointment of David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICBI), after he breached the terms of appointment and lost the confidence of the home secretary.
"The planned recruitment process for the next ICBI is in progress."
Mr Neal, whose tenure was due to end on 21 March, told the Times on Tuesday that he had not made the decision to speak to the media "lightly". He added: "But I've been forced into this because my reports aren't being published."
"I've spent all my working life protecting this country, I've identified a security failing and I've brought it back to the Home Office," he is quoted as saying.
"There's a strong public interest here and that's why I've done what I've done. The border is there to keep us safe, it's critical that there are clear auditable risk decisions made to protect every one of us in the country."
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, who tabled the question, said this was an example of "total Tory chaos on borders and immigration".
"A series of Conservative home secretaries have sought to bury uncomfortable truths revealed by the chief inspector about our broken borders, and shockingly they are still sitting on 15 unpublished reports - stretching back to April last year," she said.
Ms Cooper also called on Mr Cleverly to "publish those reports in full".
The government website lists 14 ICIBI inspection reports that are awaiting publication. Ms Cooper's office is understood to be including the inspector's annual report in the total.
The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael also called for the reports to be published "without delay".
"This is a desperate move from a Conservative government terrified of proper scrutiny of their record of failure on borders and immigration," he added.
Mr Neal is a former army officer who commanded a brigade of the Royal Military Police.
The report about the social care system - details of which appeared in the Times - is understood to reflect Mr Neal's concern about the Home Office's oversight of compliance with the immigration rules by social care employers.
