Mum tells court of moment she found son, 3, with ‘blood and marks' after boy was mauled to death in horror dog attack

Scottish Sun

5 days ago

The boy's parents are currently on trial accused of his manslaughter
SAVAGE ATTACK Mum tells court of moment she found son, 3, with 'blood and marks' after boy was mauled to death in horror dog attack
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THE mum of a boy who was killed in a brutal dog attack has told a court of the moment she found her son covered in blood and marks.
Daniel Twigg, 3, suffered horrific injuries in the "furious and prolonged" attack at Carr Farm in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on May 15, 2022.
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The boys parents Mark Twigg, 43, and Joanne Bedford, 37, are on trial accused of manslaughter
His parents Mark Twigg, 43, and Joanne Bedford, 37, are currently on trial at Manchester Crown Court, accused of Daniel's manslaughter.
The prosecution allege the couple's negligence meant Daniel was "alone and unsupervised" when he entered a yard containing two large, "dangerous", and "powerful" 50kg guard dogs.
Recalling the "petrifying" moment she saw Daniel's body for the first time after the attack, she told the court how she had left her son in the kitchen with his older sister while she went to find a pair of shorts for him upstairs.
After first stopping in the bathroom for an unspecified amount of time, she was then about to enter Daniel's bedroom to grab his shorts when she heard his sister let out a blood-curdling scream.
She told the court that her daughter was crying out: "Mum, mum, Daniel's in the [dog] pen. He is face down and he's got blood everywhere."
As the memory came back to her, Bedford reportedly burst into tears, testifying she then rushed to the dog pen to get the canines out of the way.
She said: "I sat down on the floor with Daniel and asked his sister to get my phone so I could call for an ambulance.
"Daniel was face down on the floor, he had gotten puncture marks all over his neck and he was bleeding. I was petrified and scared for my little boy."
The two dogs involved - a Cane Corso called Sid and a Boerboel type dog named Tiny - belonged to farm owner Matthew Brown.
However, it is alleged that the couple were looking after them at the time of the attack and should have known the risk they posed to Daniel.
Baby is mauled to death by family dog after mom turned back to pick up laundry before desperately trying to stop attack
It is also claimed that the couple had ignored warnings from the RSPCA that the animals were a danger.
Bedford was seven-months pregnant at the time of the attack and struggled to run down the stairs after hearing her daughter's screams.
She said that Tiny was standing near the shed while Sid was towering over Daniel and moving towards him.
After telling him to get off the boy, she then found Daniel face down covered in blood and marks.
She recalled feeling "scared for my little boy" while trying to keep the dogs at bay.
CCTV from a neighbour's property showed Daniel inside the pen at 12.50pm, the jury heard, and he was seen moving around inside for a few moments before disappearing from view.
At the same time, a dog in an adjacent pen became 'excited, bouncing up and down in animated fashion'.
A 999 call was made by Daniel's mother almost 20 minutes later after he'd been inside the dog pen, the jury heard previously, and while it's not known for certain whether both dogs were involved in the attack Sid was the 'likely' culprit.
'DANIEL'S DEATH WAS AN UTTERLY FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCE'
John Elvidge KC, prosecuting, said: "No-one suggests that these catastrophic events were intended or desired by his parents but this attack and Daniel's death were utterly foreseeable consequences of negligently allowing Daniel to enter Sid and Tiny's pen alone and unsupervised."
Daniel's parents had a 'long association' with the farm, owned by a Matthew Brown, with Twigg working as an odd job man and Bedford keeping horses there.
The couple, who have two other children, leased the farmhouse from Brown in March 2022 after he had been remanded to prison when his girlfriend Deniqua Westwood made a complaint to police.
Westwood, who operated a puppy breeding business, moved out and but it was agreed the guard dogs would remain and the couple would look after them.
Twigg was paid £450 to attend to the day-to-day security, running of the farm, and the dogs' care.
The couple, who also had another eight or nine dogs to look after, including three of their own, stayed on at the farm despite having a home in Blackley, Manchester, when Brown was released on bail, the jury heard.
The pair continued to have responsibility for the dogs over weekends when he was away, with Daniel attacked on one such weekend, argued the prosecution.
The trial continues.