A three-year-old boy who died in a dog attack on a farm was left unsupervised with “dangerous” and “aggressive” animals for at least 15 minutes, a court has been told.
Daniel Twigg was attacked after letting himself into a fenced yard where the two dogs – described as being large mastiffs – were kept on Carr Farm, Rochdale, on 15 May 2022. He suffered injuries including bites to the neck and died at the scene.
His parents Joanne Bedford and Mark Twigg have denied gross negligence manslaughter and offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
Their trial at Manchester Crown Court was told the incident was “not a short rapid attack”.
Daniel’s family had moved to the farm in March 2022 to look after the property and several dogs who belonged to the farm’s owner, Matthew Brown, the court heard.
The two dogs that attacked Daniel – named Sid and Tiny – weighed around 110 lbs (50 kg) and were used for breeding and as guard dogs.
The court was told that immediately after the incident, Ms Bedford told a police officer that other members of the family were in the garden when Daniel disappeared before they heard the dogs attacking him.
She told the officer: “We went in straightaway but he’d already gone. They killed him out right.”
But John Elvidge KC, for the prosecution, said Daniel was left unsupervised with the dogs for at least 15 minutes, and that Ms Bedford “failed to give the police any account for leaving Daniel unsupervised for so long”.
He said Daniel’s parents knew he had previously gone into the pen by himself and was well-aware he liked and was very attracted to the dogs.
Ms Bedford later told police that Daniel was only out of her sight for a “couple of minutes”.
Mr Elvidge told the court the defendants “blatantly disregarded” warnings from a RSPCA inspector who had recently visited the farm.
He said the inspector was so concerned about the number of dangerous dogs and the potential danger to Daniel that he reported his concerns to police.
The trial heard Mr Twigg was not at the farm at the time of the attack.
His defence barrister Andrew Thomas KC said Mr Twigg was working 15 miles away and “had left Daniel in the care of his mum”.
The court was read extracts from WhatsApp messages between Ms Bedford and a neighbour, Leanne Thornton. In one, Ms Thornton described Tiny as a “ticking time bomb”.
Ms Bedford broke down in the dock as CCTV footage of the aftermath of the attack was shown to the jury.
The footage showed a neighbour, carrying a knife, running to the pen where Daniel lay fatally injured. He returned to his home minutes later, visibly shaken.
The trial continues.
