Latest news with #Coroners'Court
BBC News
24-03-2025
- BBC News
Teenager killed in Bristol XL bully attack 'died from neck bites'
A teenager who died in an XL bully dog attack sustained fatal injuries to her neck, the opening of an inquest into her death has Dorsett, from Shrewsbury, died following the incident outside a flat in Bristol on 26 Coroners' Court heard a post-mortem examination gave a provisional cause of death as dog bites to 19-year-old Miss Dorsett's dog was put down and a man and a woman, both in their 20s, were arrested but have since been released on conditional bail. Alexis Camp, coroners' officer, told the hearing at the court in Flax Bourton on Monday that Miss Dorsett's death was confirmed at 19:29 GMT by a paramedic after the incident at Cobhorn Drive in the Withywood area of the teenager was then identified by her mother Marie Smith in the mortuary, she Camp said: "Morgan received significant dog bites to her face and neck, resulting in her sad death."I understand that there are family concerns regarding the police criminal investigation." Statements will now be taken from Miss Dorsett's family, police and paramedics, with a full post-mortem report and toxicology report prepared ahead of the final inquest Voisin, senior coroner for Avon, said that because of a "pending criminal investigation" she was not going to set a date for that and Somerset Police had arrested the man and woman on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury and resulting in death, as well as possession of a prohibited breed of dog.
Telegraph
03-03-2025
- Telegraph
Teenager ‘professed love' to American neo-Nazi before being charged with terror offences
A schoolgirl declared her love for the American neo-Nazi who radicalised her before being charged with terrorism offences, an inquest has heard. Rhianan Rudd was 14 when she was charged after downloading a guide to make a pipe bomb. She had told school friends of her desire to blow up a synagogue and had become 'fixated' with Adolf Hitler. Rhianan, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, was found dead in a children's home in May 2022, five months after the charges against her were dropped. An inquest into her death, at the age of 16, heard she exchanged messages with Christopher Cook, a teenage white supremacist, through communications platform Discord. Cook, now aged 23, was subsequently convicted in the US of plotting attacks on the American power grid and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2023. Emily Carter, Rhianan's mother, maintains that authorities, including MI5, counter-terrorism police and social services, failed to treat her daughter as a victim of exploitation by extremists. The inquest at Chesterfield Coroners' Court heard how Rhianan began an online relationship with Cook in 2020. Following the schoolgirl's arrest in October 2020, social worker Paige McMahon recorded that the teenager had been 'significantly radicalised' by men who had 'groomed Rhianan and influenced her extremist views'. She wrote: 'Rhianan ... is likely to suffer significant harm if things do not change.' Notes made by Ms McMahon of a meeting with Rhianan and her mother recorded: 'Emily said Rhianan stated she was speaking to someone online called Chris who was 17 and shared similar views to him. 'They then discovered he was on a terror watch list. Rhianan found this funny and said she told her mother about this. 'They told each other that they loved one another and that they had spoken a lot online,' she added. Mother asked police to help The inquest heard that Ms Carter had asked police for help in September 2020, warning them that her daughter had developed an 'unhealthy outlook on fascism'. Rhianan was arrested the following month after carving a swastika into her forehead so others 'could see her beliefs', and charged under the terrorism act in December 2020. Ms McMahon also recorded that Rhianan's brother, Brandon, noticed a 'massive change' in his sister after talking to Cook. The inquest was also told how social services spoke with Ms Carter about her former partner Dax Mallaburn, a convicted American neo-Nazi who had been living at the family home in Bolsover, Derbyshire. Mallaburn, who met Ms Carter through a prisoner pen-pal scheme while serving a jail sentence in the US, had a swastika tattooed on his arm. Ms McMahon's notes, made to consider whether Rhianan should be the subject of a child protection plan, read: 'Dax had nothing to do with Rhianan or her views. He would tell Rhianan 'no' a lot. 'Emily said Rhianan wouldn't listen. Emily said his particular views were from when he was in prison years ago. They are not the same anymore since he has been out. 'Dax is the only one who can connect to Rhianan. If she starts doing stuff he will say no and she will stop.' Ms Carter told the social worker that Mallaburn 'did not support' Rhianan's views, adding: 'He did have a swastika tattooed on his arm but this was to do with politics in prison and he had changed a lot upon his release.' Terrorism charges against Rhianan were dropped in December 2021 after the Home Office concluded the teenager had been a victim of exploitation. By then, she had already been removed from school and placed at Bluebell House, a children's home in Nottinghamshire, where she remained until her death. A social worker described Rhianan as 'deeply scared' about a potential prison sentence and 'fixated' on the idea that she was going to jail. The inquest was told that while at the home, Rhianan had self-harmed and expressed suicidal thoughts. Earlier in the inquest, Ms Carter described her daughter as a 'kind and loving child' who had been manipulated by extremists. 'I saw Rhianan change,' she said. 'This had a great impact on her and I did all I felt was right by her. Rhianan in total was one of the kindest, most loving children I had ever had the honour to know.' The inquest is hearing evidence from agencies including MI5, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the police. Some material relating to MI5's involvement with Rhianan before she took her own life is being withheld on security grounds. The inquest continues.
