Southend woman died after intervening in dogs’ nugget fight

A woman died after trying to stop her two dogs fighting over a chicken nugget, an inquest has heard.

Michelle Hempstead, 34, died hours after a single bite from her dog at her flat in Southend-on-Sea in July 2024.

Essex Coroner’s Court heard how Samuel West, Ms Hempstead’s partner who witnessed the incident, told police she got “caught in the crossfire” after throwing the McDonalds chicken nugget in the air for her pomeranian and rottweiler-mastiff crossbreed, who went to snap at the smaller dog.

Ms Hempstead was bitten around her left armpit and upper arm, which severed an artery and a vein, and she went on to suffer multi-organ failure, the inquest was told.

The rottweiler-mastiff cross known as Trigg was seized and destroyed after the incident. The inquest heard the bite was “not malicious”.

Mr West described Trigg as “docile”, saying he “loved [Ms Hempstead] to death, and didn’t have a bad bone in his body”.

“You didn’t have to worry about him with anything, he wasn’t vicious in any way, shape or form,” he told the court, adding that Ms Hempstead occasionally fed Trigg food from her mouth.

Essex Police Acting Insp James McLean-Brown was the officer in charge of the scene, after the incident late at night on 29 July.

He told the court the victim collapsed outside her flat in Retort Close and suffered a “catastrophic injury” from the dog bite and “extensive” blood loss.

She was pronounced dead in the early hours of 30 July.

He said police had received reports of two XL bully-type dogs being known to stay at the property, thought to belong to Mr West, but there was “no evidence” to say these dogs had been in the flat at the time of the bite.

Mr West, who was arrested over these reports but later released without charge, told the court these two dogs were not illegal or banned breeds.

In a letter read out to the court, Ms Hempstead’s mother Karen described her daughter as “loving, resilient, not afraid to speak her mind, hard working, caring, extremely brave, resourceful, generous”.

Senior coroner for Essex Lincoln Brookes described Ms Hempstead’s death as a “double tragedy”, having come just weeks after the death of her eldest daughter.

In his conclusion, Mr Brookes recorded a verdict of accidental death, saying it was an “unintended consequence of an otherwise innocent act”.