Woman walking chihuahua trampled to death by cow, inquest jury concludes

A woman walking her dog was trampled to death by a cow after straying from a footpath across a field, an inquest jury has concluded.

After the hearing, Becki Morris’s father David described her as “beautiful” and said she had gone for a “short walk with her chihuahua on a summer’s evening and never came home”.

The 29-year-old had been walking Zero in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, on the evening of July 9 2022 when she was killed.

The jury at Leicester Coroner’s Court found that Ms Morris had “deviated for reasons unknown” from the field’s public footpath, which she used to enter the field, before she came across the cow, “tragically causing injuries which led to her death”.

Leicestershire coroner Isobel Thistlethwaite heard that Ms Morris sent a photo of the cattle in the field to her mother while walking Zero.

The inquest was told that she stopped responding to text messages so her parents searched for her in the field shown in the image, where they found her injured.

Despite efforts from paramedics at the scene, Ms Morris went into cardiac arrest and died at 11.21pm.

Dr Michael Biggs, a forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, told the inquest on Monday that she had injuries, including blunt force traumatic injuries and abrasions, which were “consistent with hoof marks from a trampling incident”.

He said she sustained “extensive damage to the liver” which caused “severe internal bleeding”, leading to her death.

The inquest also heard that a public footpath running through the field off Riverside Way, which formed part of Warwick Bridge Farm at the time, was marked by “yellow posts”.

The farm owner’s son, Guy Hutton, told the jury that when he left the farm that evening and saw Ms Morris injured, she was some way from this designated path.

He also said that there were either 17 or 18 cows and one calf in the field and that he had “never known the cattle to stampede”.

He added that they were “easy-going” cows that acted in a “docile manner”.

Ms Thistlethwaite concluded the inquest by addressing the family and said: “To Becki’s family you have my very, very sincere condolences.

“It is very clear to me how much you loved Becki. You must miss her terribly and you have my best wishes for the future.”

Speaking after the jury’s narrative conclusion on Friday, Ms Morris’s father David Morris read a statement on behalf of the family outside Leicester Town Hall and said “nothing will help” them overcome their loss but they are “satisfied” with the conclusion found by the jury.

He said: “Our beautiful daughter Becki went for a short walk with her chihuahua on a summer’s evening and never came home.”

The Health and Safety Executive confirmed that an investigation into Ms Morris’s death is ongoing.